Code: Overloaded
by M16A3
Summary: Aelita always said Jeremie was going to work himself to death. Who knew she would be right? Now rated T for a bit more blood...
1. Chapter 1

**Code:Overloaded**

**Chapter one  
>Setting: Transition from second to third season<strong>

The Lyoko gang, minus Yumi and Jeremie, were sitting at their traditional spot, talking about something relating to Xana and Lyoko. Finally, Yumi came into the picture.

"Hey, Yumi!" Ulrich greeted warmly.

"Hi, guys, where's Jeremie?"

"Knowing him, still trying to pull an all-niter and skipping breakfast." Odd said between mouthfuls of food.

"I'm getting worried, all he does anymore is work on the anti-virus, go to school, and more Lyoko junk." Aelita said, expressing concern. "I haven't even seen him eat regular food in over a week."

"With this food, who's to blame him?" Yumi replied, poking the mush on her plate with a fork.

"It's a wonder how his body doesn't give out from total exhaustion. Going like that, he should have given out some time ago." Colton said.  
>"Yes, well, once he does finally pass out, only the kiss from his <em>loving princess<em> will save him!" Odd said with a sly grin. Aelita's cheeks flushed scarlet.

"I don't love him..." Aelita muttered quietly. Just then, Jeremie, or rather, the wrecked version of him, came to the table. His hair was half-brushed, dark circles were very apparent under his eyes, and red keyboard markings lined his right cheek.

"Good morning sunshine!" Ulrich joked.

"Slept at the keyboard again?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, why, is it apparent?"

"Slightly." Star said sarcastically. She pulled a small pocket mirror out of her backpack and handed it to Jeremie. Jeremie's eyes widened at the sight of the blonde staring back at him in the mirror. He fingered the dark circles under his eyes.

"You really need to take a break, you're going to kill yourself!" said Aelita.

"I'm fine, I've just been working a bit more on your anti-virus. It's almost done, just a little while longer, alright?"

"Alright, just promise you'll get some sleep?" Aelita asked, not quite agreeing with him.

"I'll be fine, now what were we talking about?"

"How once you kill over from exhaustion, Aelita will have to kiss you back to life." Yumi said grinning widely. Jeremie's cheeks immediately flushed a deep red, redder than Aelita's. Everyone except Aelita and Jeremie couldn't help but smile bigger.

Later in the day, around third period, the Lyoko gang, minus Yumi and Star, was in Mrs. Hertz world history class.

"And so, with the price of bread climbing, many French peasants faced starvation in the late 1700's..." Mrs. Hertz was droning on about something relating to the French revolution.

"And with the boredom of Mrs. Hertz's class growing rapidly, prolonged sleep was imminent." Odd whispered, causing Colton to let out a silent laugh.

"_Beep! Beep! Beep!"_ Jeremie's computer let out it's silent alarm, signaling Xana had launched an attack.

"Dang, activated tower!" Jeremie whispered. "We need to go, speed is crucial." He quickly pressed a few buttons to silence the computer.

"Well, we all can't just leave, I don't think she'll necessarily be too thrilled that a quarter of her class is ditching." Colton whispered.

"Good point, we'll have half of us break off and the others stay behind until the period ends. Aelita and Jeremie are definitely in, so we'll need one escort." said Ulrich.

"I'm staying, my grade can't take another hit without dropping to an F." Odd whispered.

"Good point, Colton, what's your grade?" Ulrich asked.

"B-, yours?" Colton responded.

"F, get them outta here." Ulrich replied.

"Uh, Mrs. Hertz? Can I go to the infirmary, I feel a bit light headed." Jeremie asked, putting a hand to his head.

"I'll take him." Aelita offered.

"So will I." Colton chimed in. Mrs. Hertz stopped her lesson and let out a sigh.

"Alright, but just to make sure you three aren't trying to play "hooky" on me, who led France into fourteen years of war, built an empire that stretched through Spain, and was ultimately defeated at the Battle of Waterloo?" Mrs. Hertz asked through slitted eyes.

"Napoleon Bonaparte." All three students chorused.

"Alright, you may leave." Mrs. Hertz said while shooing them away. Aelita, Jeremie, and Colton walked out of the classroom. The second they heard the door click shut behind them, they broke off into a sprint. One they were out in the bitter cold November air, Colton pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"I'll call Star! Aelita, get Yumi!" Colton said between breaths.

"Got it!" Aelita replied taking out her cell phone. Colton got out his and pressed speed dial #2. The speaker rang twice before Star's voice came through the speaker.

"Hello?" Star whispered.

"Star, activated tower, Jeremie, Aelita, and I are on our way to deactivate the tower!" said Colton. Star let out a groan.

"Dang, today's a test day, the teacher won't let us out until the end of the period!" She whispered.

"Ms. Chen! No cell phones out! This is a test!" Colton could hear Star's teacher in the background. His voice was muffled by the distance.

"Sorry sir! Got to go, I'll be there as soon as I can!" Star whispered.

"Ms. Chen!" The teacher's voice boomed. Right then the line disconnected.

"Dang!" Colton muttered and pressed the end button. The three warriors came to the drain, stopping for a quick breath.

"Is Yumi coming?" Colton asked.

"No response, I think she has swimming this period, but I left a voice mail. What about Star?"

"She's got a mandatory test. Look's like we're without support for a good...45 minutes." Colton said pulling the drain open.

"We've done it before, we can do it again." Aelita said crawling in.

Colton began crawling in, but stopped when he noticed Jeremie hunched over by a tree, clutching his chest.

"Jeremie, are you alright?"

"Yeah...Just...feeling some tightness..." He said panting heavily. He swallowed once. "Alright, let's go." He followed Colton down into the sewers.

"Are you okay, Jeremie?" Aelita asked, expressing concern.

"Yeah, the cold air is just irritating my lungs." He replied and grabbed his scooter. Aelita did the same while Colton grabbed his skateboard.

"Wooo! C'mon Xana, whatcha got in store for us this run?!" Colton whooped while skidding along the sewer floors. In 5 minutes, they reached the other side of the sewer and climbed up the ladder to the factory. They slid down the ropes and entered the elevator. Jeremie punched in the code and the elevator roared to life. Once they were down to the first floor, Jeremie stepped off.

"Get to the scanners, I'll start the process." Jeremie said, climbing into the chair. Colton gave him a thumbs up and pressed down on the elevator. Aelita and Colton headed down the elevator, stopping at the bottom of the shaft. Aelita headed to the scanner on the left, while Colton headed right.

"You know, Jeremie, Xana's been awful quiet today." Colton called stepping into the scanner.

"I know, it worries me too." Jeremie replied. "Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Colton." Aelita and Colton's scanner doors hissed before sliding shut.

"Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Colton. Virtualization!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 2**

**(A/N: For the Code Lyoko veterans out there, some of you might remember Odd diving into a lake to save Aelita from complete devirtualization. I personally think that hypothermia should come into effect, where if a warrior falls in, the extreme cold docks life points until he/she is completely devirtualized. Also, for those of you who don't know who Colton and Star are, read Carthage: Project X by Adventurer411 to learn of their origins, but don't stop there, read ALL of her fan fics!)**

Aelita and Colton were virtualized in the arctic region, somewhere around the edge of Carthage.

"Alright, Jeremie. We made it safely, now where's that tower?" Colton asked, cracking his knuckles.

"The tower is approximately two and a half kilometers due west from your current position."

"Why'd you spawn us so far from the tower, Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"According to the map, Xana isn't letting this tower out without a fight. He's got a platoon of monsters waiting by the tower. Don't worry, I'm pulling up your vehicles now." Jeremie said. They could hear the quick movements of his fingers across the keyboard. Jeremie stopped typing, let out a sneeze, and resumed typing. "Here you go, one overbike and one overwing, ready for departure!" Jeremie announced, pressing enter. Two vehicles materialized directly in front of Aelita and Colton. Colton sprang onto the overbike while Aelita stepped onto the overwing. With that, they sped off across the icy landscape.

"So what do you think Xana has in store for us this time, Jeremie?" Colton called.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm recording unusually high power levels near the nuclear plant's core. My guess is that Xana wants to turn Paris into Chernobyl."

"Let's not waste time then. I'm not ready to die of radiation poisoning _just_ yet." Aelita called. The two warriors sped across the virtual tundra, scanning the cliffs for the red aura of the activated tower. However, the landscape was unusually quiet and desolate. Suddenly, Jeremie began to cough violently. From Lyoko, they could hear blockage in his throat.

"Hey, Jeremie? Is Xana trying to kill you again?" Colton called nonchalantly.

"No, *Cough* the cold air is still irritating my lungs.*Cough* Don't worry, I'm fine." Jeremie promptly let out a deep sneeze.

"You don't sound too well, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Aelita called, concern apparent in her voice.

"Yeah, just deactivate the tower." Jeremie replied. Aelita and Colton continued through the frozen wasteland, unsure of Jeremie's condition.

"You should see a pass up ahead, follow that and you'll come to a small valley. There, you will find the activated tower. But, approach with caution, Xana's monsters are directly on the other side." Jeremie warned, still coughing.

"Got it, we'll go over the pass and mount an attack from above."

"How long until the others arrive?" Aelita asked.

"The academy just let out, Star and Odd should be here in twenty minutes, but don't wait around for them."

"What about Ulrich and Yumi?"

"They're trying to get Paris evacuated... Good luck there." Jeremie said sarcastically.

Aelita and Colton reached the pass and flew to the top, stopping at the edge. About sixty yards away was the activated tower, surrounded by a small army of monsters. Colton glanced down.

"Whoa, that's a lot of monsters! Xana really wants to annihilate Paris!"

"Jeremie, how many monsters are we up against?" Aelita called.

"The map shows two megatanks, two tarantulas, four bloks, and two krabes, but I can't get an accurate count."

"You know what this means, right Aelita?" Colton asked.

"No, what does it me-" She was cut off as Colton floored the overbike off the cliff side. He jumped off in mid-air, causing the overbike to smash into the krabes, destroying them and the overbike. Now alert to his presence, every monster guarding the tower turned their attention the green-clad figure. Colton landed with a loud thud directly in front of Xana's massive army. The tarantulas were the first to attack. The stood up on their hind legs and began pelting Colton with a barrage of lasers. Colton whipped out his combat knife and began to deflect the lasers with lightening fast movements. However, the knife was small, and very weak against lasers. One well placed laser to the hand caused the knife to fly out of his grasp and wedge itself into the top of the cliff.

"Man, that bites!" Colton yelled as the megatanks took positions in front of him and began to charge their massive lasers.

Colton was cornered. Just as the megatanks let out the massive red wall, two pink spheres hit both megatanks, blowing them to bits of code. Aelita dropped down directly next to Colton.

"Did you honestly think you were going to have all the fun?" She asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Thanks, I owe you one." he said, drawing his assault shotgun. The bloks turned their attention to the two warriors, attacking with a mix of lasers and ice blasts.. One laser stuck Colton in the arm.

"Gonna be feeling that one tomorrow!" He yelled, holding the sparking shoulder.

"You run left, I'll go right! We're harder to hit if we split up!" Aelita instructed, narrowly dodging a laser blast.

"Good idea!" Colton replied. He bolted off to the left as Aelita took off to the right. The monsters followed in pursuit, the tarantulas going after Colton, and the Bloks after Aelita. Colton sprinted down the canyon, ducking and dodging as the tarantulas shot at him. One laser whizzed past his head, missing by mere inches.

"I gotta find some cover, fast!" Colton muttered to himself.

"Colton, be careful. You're coming up to a virtual lake, if you fall in, you'll slowly lose life points until you'll just devirtualize!"

Colton skidded to a stop. Just as Jeremie had warned, a massive lake filled with small and medium sized icebergs stretched out before him. Colton had two choices; He could either turn back around and engage the tarantulas, or he could take his chances iceberg hopping. A laser to the back made his decision quite obvious.

"Fifty life points left." Jeremie warned.

"The things I do to save Paris." Colton muttered and made a leap to the first iceberg, about six feet away. The iceberg was small, and rocked around when Colton landed on it. He thought it was going to topple, but it remained upright. He jumped three more icebergs and stopped on a medium one, perched fifty meters away from the edge. He glanced back and saw the tarantulas stop at the edge. They scanned the frigid water, looking for a way to reach Colton. Seeing none, they knelt down and aimed their cannons at him.

"Uh, Jeremie? I'm in a bit of a jam here! Can you get me an overbike?"

"No, I depleted my resources on the first one!"

"Any _other _good news then?"

"Well, Odd and Star showed up! Odd's going to help Aelita, and Star is en route to help you. Think you can hold out?" The tarantulas began a firing barrage of lasers at Colton.

"I can try, but don't expect any promises! Tell Star to get here now!" Colton slung the shotgun over his shoulder and drew his handguns. One laser blast hit his left hand and threw the small firearm into the water.

"Dang, down to one..." He muttered and took aim at the tarantula on the left. He emptied the magazine before finally putting one in the bulls eye. The tarantula let out an ear piercing squeal, the collapsed and exploded.

"Squadron of hornets at 5 o'clock!" Jeremie warned. Colton glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, four hornets were attempting to flank him.

"For the love of-!" He was cut off as the hornets began firing lasers at him. One well placed laser knocked the iceberg out from under Colton's feet, plunging him into the arctic waters. Even though he was on Lyoko, the water felt like needles being forced into every square inch of his body. He tried to swim to the surface but his muscles couldn't respond.

"Colton! Get out of there! Your life points are going like water!" Jeremie called. He tried to move again, but his arms were unresponsive.

"Forty life points left!" Jeremie called. Colton couldn't hear him, his mind was too focused on the pain radiating throughout his body. Suddenly he felt a sensation on the bad of his neck. He thought it was hypothermia, until he realized it was Star, pulling him out of the water.

"Hey Colton! Going for a swim, are we?" Star said, grinning ear-to-ear.

"B-B-Bite m-me, S-S-Star." Colton said, shivering violently. The reunion was short-lived. The hornets now shifted their attention to the feminine figure and assaulted her with lasers. Star took out her staff, and with one clean swing, sent out a blast of energy that decimated the squadron of hornets.

"G-G-Good shot." Colton complemented, still shivering. He lifted a shivering finger. "W-What ab-bout the t-t-tarantula?"

"Wait for it..." Star said, unfazed by the tarantula taking position. Just it began to open fire, Odd sprung out from behind, laser arrows armed.

"LASER ARROW!" He yelled and shot the tarantula in the face five times. Bits of light streamed out from the tarantula's face as it collapsed and exploded.

"And you were worried." Star said, helping the bitterly cold Colton to his feet.

"What happened here?" Aelita called. She was flying overhead on the overwing. Aelita pulled down on the overwing and jumped off next to Colton and Star.

"Did someone slip?" Aelita asked, grinning at Colton.

"I-I-I'd lo-love t-to catch up-p, but in c-case y-you for g-got, X-Xana is t-trying t-to nuke P-P-Paris!" Colton said. His speech was slurred badly by the intense cold of his outfit. Even on Lyoko, the extreme cold was overwhelming.

"He's right, the power levels at the nuclear plant are just getting higher. Within fifteen minutes, the fuel rods will hit overload and go into meltdown. Total devastation is sure to follow." Jeremie warned.

"Fine. Colton and I can get to the tower by the overwing. Star, you and Odd take the overboard and meet us there." Aelita instructed.

"Sounds good. Let's go before Xana has time to bring in more monsters." Star said. She began the jump over to Odd and the overboard while Aelita and Colton climbed onto the overwing. Aelita was flying, while Colton simply sat down and let his legs hang over the back of the overwing. With that, The four warriors flew off.

"J-J-Jeremie, how m-many life p-p-points do I-I h-have?" Colton asked.

"As of right now, you have thirty life points. Hypothermia should devirtualize you within five minutes as long as you don't run into any trouble."

"Uh, it looks like trouble is already following us! Hornets, 7 o'clock, high! Odd warned. Just as Odd had called it, a fleet of twenty-three hornets were following the warriors.

"Awwww hell!" Colton yelled, grabbing the shotgun. "J-Jeremie! I o-only h-h-have t-ten sh-shells! C-Can y-you get m-my h-handguns b-b-back?" Colton asked, taking aim at the fleet.

"Working on it, three minutes tops. Can you hold out until then?"

"T-try to!" Colton replied, firing the first round. Star also took a position on the overboard, swinging her staff wildly. Three hornets were tailing Star and Odd very closely, but one spell obliterated the formation. Colton aimed down the sights of his shotgun, using the iron sights to line the barrel up with a hornet's head. He focused as much as he could, and managed to ignore the effects of the hypothermia. Just as he pulled the trigger though, Aelita sharply dodged to the left to evade a blast, causing Colton's shot to falter.

"Aelita! Hold this damn thing steady! I can't get a shot lined up!" Colton barked, pumping the shotgun.

"Let's trade places then!" Aelita replied sarcastically. She swerved sharply to the right to dodge another laser. "I'll take the shotgun, you fly this without getting hit!"

"We're too exposed here in open sky! Go into the canyon, it'll give us an advantage!" Colton instructed.

"What? The only advantage that will give us is a swift devirtualization!" She hissed.

"Just trust me! If Paris gets nuked, I'll let you kick my butt in the afterlife!" He replied, discharging another round. This time, the spread out blast hit two hornets, killing them both in a spectacular explosion. Three more hornets promptly filled in the fallen and took shots at the duo.

"Fine, just get them off of our back, we're almost to the tower!" Aelita said, pitching the overwing down toward the canyon below."

"Jeremie, how much time until I get my handguns?" Colton called, pumping the shotgun again.

"Just one more minute! I just need the scripts for the ammunition!" Jeremie replied. His voice sounded very hoarse over the communication channels. "Got it! Two handguns, coming up! Try not drop these ones in the water, okay?" Two new weapons took shape at Colton's thighs before finally materializing. Colton slung the shotgun over his shoulder and grabbed one of his pistols. He aimed the small firearm at the approaching hornets, but Aelita's erratic evasion was still making it hard to get a clear shot. Despite this, he fired five shots, nailing one in the body. Two more remained in close pursuit.

"Jeremie, how far is the tower?"

Jeremie let out a deep cough before replying "Approximately one more kilometer! Watch those walls, they'll devirtualize you faster than a megatank!"

"Noted." Colton replied taking aim again. A hornet fired a blast, and with pure luck, it stuck the back of the overwing. The blast caused the warriors to lose balance, and they were sent flying through the canyon. Aelita was chucked 50 meters before she finally tumbled into the ground, dazed. Colton was thrown off to the left, and wiped out by slamming into the canyon wall. He fell haphazardly to the ground, temporarily unconscious. When he finally awoke, Aelita was caught in the grip of the Skypozoa, her memory being hijacked.

"COLTON! KILL THAT THING! IT'S TAKING AELITA'S MEMORY!" Colton quickly scrambled to his feet and drew the shotgun form his back. With one powerful leap, he sprang and landed on top of the squid, shotgun aimed right at it's eye. However, just as Colton pulled the trigger, the shotgun devirtualized in his hands, along with his arms, legs, body, and finally, his face. Hypothermia had finished him off. "NO!" Jeremie yelled, watching as more of Aelita's memory evaporated with every second. The light blue bar on Jeremie's screen kept draining as Colton's profile card popped up, and then evaporated, signaling he'd been devirualized. Aelita's memory bar continued to drain, going from 80%, then 70%, then 60%, and continuing on until there was a mere 23% left. Colton took a spot by Jeremie's chair, still shivering from the cold.

"That's it. She's gone. We're gonna lose her, Colton." Jeremie said, his tone filled with defeat. He watched as the bar fell below the 10% mark.

"Don't give up yet, Jeremie!" Colton said, seeing two green circles followed by four red circles come on the the tactical map. It was Star and Odd, being chased by two hornets and two krabes. With the squad of monsters following her, Star sprang off the overboard and smashed the staff into the skypozoa's gelatinous head. Out of sheer pain, the skypozoa released it's grip on Aelita, causing her to collapse to the ground. The oversized let out an ear-piercing squeal before retreating behind a glacier. Aelita, knocked unconscious from the skypozoa, quickly awoke and scrambled to her feet. Star and Aelita were caught. With krabes blocking both exits, Star and Aelita were pressed back-to-back. The krabes charged their lasers, ready to devirtualize the duo. However, with mere seconds before they unleashed their blast, Odd flew into the canyon and jumped off the overboard, driving it straight into a krabe. Still airborne, he fired five laser arrows into the second krabe, dispatching it a split second.

"Nice work Odd, but you have two hornets on your six!" Jeremie warned. He promptly let out another cough, this one with a distinct "whooping" noise.

"I got these two!" Star yelled and charged another spell. When it was ready, she cast an amazing green ball of energy at the two hornets, obliterating them on impact.

"Good job, now get to the tower! The fuel rods at the power plant are really heating up!"

Jeremie's headset let out a beeping noise, notifying him of an incoming call. It was Ulrich, calling from the power plant.

"Ulrich! What's going on over there?" Jeremie asked.

"It looks like Xanas' really working it here! He's set a specter after Yumi and I! We're running all over the plant to dodge this thing!" Ulrich said between breaths. He was obviously running very hard.

"Is everyone out of the plant?" Jeremie asked, worry apparent in his voice.

"Yeah, everyone but us!"

"Get out of there now! If those fuel rods melt down you'll be directly exposed to lethal radiation!"

"That's the problem! Xana won't even let us by! He's trying to hold us here until the rods blow up in our face! Just tell them to deactivate that tower fast!"

"Working on it, just hang in there!" Jeremie replied and shut the telephone program. He pulled up another program that tuned him in directly to the news.

"...Authorities say an unknown virus broke past the power plant's security program and managed to deactivate all but ten of the power plant's control rods. Experts warn that if the control rods are not set back into place within two minutes, the fuel rods will meltdown, and radioactive elements will escape into the environment." Jeremie's heart almost stopped.

"Star, Odd, Aelita! You have TWO minutes to deactivate the tower, or it's game over!" Jeremie warned, worry seeping into his tone.

"Relax, Einstein. We're already at the tower!" Odd said, watching Aelita get absorbed into the wall of the tower.

"Good, just hurry-!" Jeremie began to cough. This time is was very deep, with a distinct whooping sound coming from inside his chest.

"Hey, Jeremie, are you alright?" Colton said, kneeling at the blonde's side. He was coughing and hacking too much to respond. As Jeremie was coughing his lungs out, Aelita ascended the tower's shaft, stepping off at the top. She approached the center of the platform, and stopped when the screen popped up in front of her. She pressed her hand up against it, and watched as the all-too-familiar "AELITA" name typed out in front of her, followed by the "CODE LYOKO" text.

"Jeremie, I've deactivated the tower, you can proceed with the return to the past." Aelita informed. There was no response. "Jeremie?" She called again. Back in the computer room, Jeremie was fighting his cough.

"Jeremie! Breath man! C'mon!" Colton said, slapping on his back in a futile attempt to dislodge whatever was blocking his lungs. Jeremie continued to cough, each one deeper and more violent then the last. His hands surged to his chest, squeezing it in pain. Now Jeremie was coughing up sticky, dark green mucus. Colton pulled the coughing boy from the chair and laid him flat on the ground. Employing what he'd learned in first-aid training, he began to press down on Jeremie's chest to help free the mucus. Jeremie took one deep breath, and let out one powerful final cough, blood very visible in it. Jeremie's body went limp, and he passed out. Colton grabbed his headset and took a seat at the chair.

"Aelita, Jeremie's unconscious! You need to walk me through the return to the past process, fast!" Colton yelled, urgency very apparent in his tone.

"WHAT? How did this happen?" Aelita replied, very worried.

"No time to explain, just tell me what I've got to do! We have thirty seconds before total meltdown!" Aelita walked Colton through the process, and with seconds to meltdown, Colton pressed enter and yelled "RETURN TO THE PAST NOW!"

**(A/N: This, and many other chapters that are soon to come, are dedicated to Adventurer411, she was my whole reason for starting this story back up, and she is my rock.**

**I LOVE YOU ADVENTURER411!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 3: Diagnosis**

**By Matson (M16)**

The return to the past sent everyone a day back, around lunch. The Lyoko warriors, with the exception of Jeremie, were in the cafeteria.

"Oh good! It's lunchtime!" Odd commented and promptly got up to get some lunch.

"You know, I wouldn't mind a bit of lunch either." Yumi said and dismissed herself. Everyone got up and followed, returning five minutes later with trays of food.

"So, what happened while we were on Lyoko? I know Jeremie passed out, what's the deal with that?" Odd asked, taking a bit out of a piece of bread.

"Yes, I remember you mentioning that to me while I was in the tower, what did happen?" Aelita asked, concern apparent in her voice.

"Well, just before the return to the past, Jeremie began coughing uncontrollably. Eventually, he passed from suffocation. He's probably got a nasty virus." Colton replied.

"Nah, I think it was a last minute Xana attempt to kill Jeremie. We all know he's capable of that." Ulrich interjected.

"While I wouldn't knock that as a possibility, there were a lot of indicators that it wasn't Xana."

"Like?" Yumi asked.

"For starters, he was complaining of chest pains during the run to the sewers."

"Oh yes, I remember him complaining about that on the way." Aelita recalled.

"So a little cold irritated his lungs. The guy doesn't get out enough as it is." Ulrich contradicted.

"That's what I thought, until we were virtualized." Colton responded. "He was coughing all over the communication channels."

"Oh yeah, I wemembew tat." Odd said though a mouth of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Star said, picking bits of food off of her clothing.

"Anyways, the biggest sign came when I was in the lab with him, just when the coughing fits started."

"What happened?" Yumi asked cocking and eyebrow.

"Well, during the coughing, he was coughing mucus up all over the place, and not just little droplets, I'm talking about globs of it."

"Hey hey! Some of us are trying to eat here!" Odd protested, flashing an annoyed look at Colton.

"Oh please, Odd. You're _always_ trying to eat." Colton shot back.

"Yeah? So?" Odd went straight back to eating.

"Back to the conversation, just before he passed out, he coughed up _blood_. I think it's between Bronchitis, Bronchiolitis, and Pneumonia."

"Pneumonia? Can't that be deadly?" Star asked.

"Yes, incredibly. It can decimate the strongest of soldiers."

"How can we check for those?" Aelita asked.

"I'll have to do a few diagnoses on him, but that's the hard part."

"How so?" Yumi asked.

"I have all of the basics, like syringes, test tubes, and things like that. To actually TEST for the diseases however requires high-powered equipment."

"Do you think the scanners at the lab might work?" Aelita asked.

"I don't know. We'll need X-rays, and something to scan blood for an arterial blood gas test."

"Arta-what?" Ulrich asked with a quizzical expression.

"Arterial blood gas test, it's used to measure how much oxygen and carbon dioxide is in the blood."

"Oh that makes sense." Ulrich replied.

"It does?" Colton replied, half shocked.

"Of course not. I'm just going to leave that to you though." Ulrich replied.

"Yeah, well, with the way Jeremie drives himself, I'm not surprised he's caught something. All he ever does is work. " said Colton.

"I'm worried he'll work himself to death." Aelita said, worry in her tone.

"We'll take him to the factory after lunch and I'll run the tests."

"Sounds good." Yumi said.

The warriors finished off their lunch and walked off to Colton/Jeremie's dorm. Inside, of course, was Jeremie, once again slaving away at the keyboard. He turned around in his chair. He looked exhausted.

"Oh hey guys!" Jeremie said with a cheerful tone, despite his obviously exhausted state.

"Hey Jeremie, C'mon. We're going to the factory." Ulrich replied.

"What? Why? There's no Xana attack." Jeremie replied.

"We're going so Doctor Crazy here can run a few tests on you." Odd replied smugly, poking at Colton.

Colton made an face, the walked in and grabbed his medical box from the little space under his bed. "Come on Jeremie, don't act like that fit you had was nothing. I need to check ad make sure you're okay." Colton said support in his tone . Jeremie swiveled around in his chair.

"We can do it later, I have to work on the anti virus." He said and proceeded with his work. Colton looked at Aelita and signaled her with his eyes. She walked up behind him.

"Oh Jeremie." She said in an incredibly sweet tone. Jeremie's typing froze in place. He could feel Aelita's arms slither around his waist, hugging him close. She rested her chin on his shoulder. "Please, go to the factory with us?" She said with a feather soft voice. Her actions successfully melted his heart, for he saved his work on his computer and stood up.

"Thank you Jeremie." Aelita said with the same feather like voice. She stood on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on his cheek, causing his face to flush with red. Everyone smirked at the couple.

The Lyoko warriors left for the factory. When they arrived, Colton hopped into the supercomputer's chair.

"I just need to run a few scans on you, Jeremie." Colton stared blankly at the keyboard. "Mind telling me how to run this thing?"

"Here, let me do it." Aelita said, taking Colton's spot. Jeremie and the others headed down to the scanners. Jeremie stood in the scanner at the farthest corner. The metal doors hissed and shut. All Jeremie could see was a mix of white and yellow. He began to float upward as Aelita ran the scanning process. Up in the labs, Colton was watching as an x-ray of Jeremie's chest appeared on the screen.

"Thanks Aelita, now I need you to scan one more thing, as soon as I get some blood from Jeremie. Colton went down and joined the rest of the group. Jeremie had just stepped out of the scanner.

"Jeremie, I need a quick blood sample for an ABG test. Can I get one?" Colton asked.

"Sure." Jeremie replied and stuck out his arm. Colton got a good blood sample from Jeremie in under twenty seconds. Colton stared blankly at the tube of blood, and then glared at Odd.

"What?" Odd asked defensively.

"Why can't you be more like _him?_" Colton asked and placed the tube in the scanner. "Okay, Aelita! Go ahead!" He called. The doors to the scanner once again hissed and shut. Within another thirty seconds, they had the blood scanned. The warriors headed up the shaft and regrouped with Aelita in the lab.

"Here's the scan results, and this is the x-ray." Aelita instructed.

"Thanks." Colton hopped in the seat and studied the x-ray intently. After reviewing all of the data collected, he walked over to Jeremie and said

"Jeremie, you have_ the worst _case of pneumonia I've ever seen."


	4. Chapter 4

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 4: Biohazard**

**By Matson (M16)**

**(M16's note: Because a lot of people probably have NO clue what all of these medical terms are, I'm posting a small dictionary at the bottom to explain some of the more difficult terms.)**

"Pneumonia?" Jeremie asked, shock apparent in his voice.

"Yes, and the worst one I've ever seen, too." Colton replied.

"How do you know?" Jeremie asked, shock still showing in his voice.

"Here, I'll show you." Colton hopped into the seat of the supercomputer. "These are your arterial blood gas tests. The carbon dioxide to oxygen ratio is way off of normal levels, with much more carbon dioxide present in your blood then average."

"Slow it down, you lost me" Odd said, staring at the test results. The numbers looked like they were written in a foreign language.

"Jeremie's lungs aren't getting normal amounts of oxygen, Odd." Star explained.

"Exactly. Now, Jeremie doesn't get out that often, so that's a bit of a given reason. This, however, is what confirms the Pneumonia." Colton pulled up the x-ray of Jeremie's chest cavity. "Right there, these white spots are splotches of fluid build up in your lungs. A healthy person wouldn't have any build up." Jeremie stared in shock at the many spots of white lining the x-ray.

"How... How did this happen?" Jeremie asked, his gaze locked on the x-ray.

"Pneumonia is a type of opportunistic disease, it-"

"In _French_, please?" Ulrich cut off Colton. Colton murmured something in English and continued.

"Jeremie's immune system is so weak, it cannot fight off diseases that are normally completely harmless. Although anyone can get Pneumonia, Jeremie's risk is _significantly_ higher."

"Why is it higher?" Jeremie asked.

"Well, according to the blood sample I got, your immune system is completely shot." Colton pointed at a few numbers on the screen. "This is Jeremie's white blood cell count in that sample of blood. He has around 450 white blood cells occupying that sample of blood."

"That's good, right?" Yumi asked.

"Not necessarily. A_ healthy _person has about 1000 to 1200 white blood cells occupying a sample of blood that size. Jeremie has about as many white blood cells as a person with HIV."

"Is Jeremie... Going to die...?" Aelita asked, obvious concern seeping into her tone. Colton took a deep breath and shut his eyes. This was the hardest part.

"With Jeremie's current immune system integrity, and given the severity of the pneumonia in his lungs, if it goes untreated, Jeremie will die within a few weeks." The room fell uncomfortably quiet. The only sound was the steady drone of the supercomputer. Aelita felt her stomach drop. An iceberg-cold shock pulsed throughout her body as she processed what she had just heard.

"Is... Is there anything we can do?" Star asked, shattering the cold silence.

"Thankfully, there is. Jeremie will need to start taking powerful antibiotics to fight the infection in his lungs."

"So he pops a few pills and he's better? That seems like a lot of drama for nothing." Odd cut in.

"No, Odd, it isn't that simple. The antibiotics fight the lung infection, it does very little for his shoddy immune system. He's going to need to recover, or he'll just get _another _disease!"

"Well, how bad is the damage to his immune system?" Ulrich asked.

"Let me put it to you this way, at this point, the _common cold _poses a serious threat to his health."

"What should I do?" asked Jeremie.

"The best way to recover is to just get rest and let your body heal itself. I can forge some doctor's notes to get you out of your classes, but you need to sleep."

"Simple enough, I'll just work on Aelita's anti-."

"Jeremie, it's that stupid anti-virus that's _causing_ your infection!" Aelita snapped.

"That seems a bit ironic, an anti-virus _giving_ Jeremie a virus." Odd replied, chuckling to himself. Everyone ignored him.

"Jeremie, you need to relax, the work overload is what's crippling your immune system." Colton said, reinforcing Aelita's statement.

"Now we're gonna need an anti-anti-virus!" Odd commented, still riding with his joke. They continued to ignore his joke.

"Look, the best way to fight the disease is through sleep. Working on Aelita's anti-virus won't help you at all." Colton continued. "If you keep forcing yourself this hard, it will literally kill you, it's already blown a hole in your body's defenses." Jeremie looked at the supercomputer monitor, pondering his options.

"Would that mean we need to give Jeremie a virus?" Odd commented again. Everyone continued to ignore him.

"How long will recovery take?" Jeremie asked. Colton folded his arms and stared at the ground. After a moment, he replied.

"It depends really on how _you _manage this. If you completely ignore the infection and continue to drive yourself to your limits, it might just finish you off." Colton warned. He looked up. "On the other hand, if you _actually _rest and allow your body to heal itself, it might only take around two months tops."

"_TWO MONTHS?" _Jeremie yelled, shocked by the massive amount of time.

"Tops. On average it could be around six weeks." Jeremie couldn't believe his ears.

"But what about the anti-vi-."

"I don't want to hear any more about that _cursed_ anti_-_virus Jeremie! You need to rest! If you don't, we're going to lose you! I don't _want _to _lose_ you!" Aelita snapped. Jeremie stared at her in shock. Everyone turned and looked at her. Aelita stood speechless, she could not tell where that outburst came from.

"Aelita's right. Just take some time away from Xana, Lyoko, and the anti-virus." Colton said. "It's simple enough, and to be honest, you look like you need it."

"What do you mean by that?" Jeremie asked, slight annoyance in his tone. Star responded by simply pulling out her makeup mirror and holding it up to Jeremie.

"That's what he means." She said. Jeremie's eyes widened at the sight of the seemingly deformed blonde staring back.

"Okay, fine, I'll take some time off, but I'm going to be here during a Xana attack."

"Fine." Colton said. Aelita's nerves seemed to wind down knowing Jeremie was going to relax and recover.  
><em>"What's wrong with me? I know he's my close friend, but why am I so wound up over this? Why do I suddenly feel like this?" <em>Aelita thought to herself, noting the sudden feelings developing inside her. _"Eh, It's probably nothing. I'll figure it out later." _With that she dismissed the feeling as purely situational.

**Dictionary, for those who really wanna know what all this stuff means.**

**Pneumonia: An infection of the lungs. It can be caused by a number of things, from extreme cold to a weakened immune system to just a plain viral infection. It's most notable symptom would probably be the buildup of fluid inside the lungs, restricting breathing capability. If untreated, it can easily become severe and in some cases, cause death to the host.**

**Arterial blood gas test (ABG): Used to measure the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood. An abnormal reading can signal problems with the lungs.**

**Opportunistic disease: An infection or tumor that comes from having a weakened immune system. Opportunistic diseases often take advantage of a host's weakened system to attack and replicate. Healthy people rarely, if ever, are at risk for such diseases.**

**Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV): A virus that attacks and destroys the hosts immune system with time. Eventually, the host is unable to fight simple diseases such as the common cold, and dies from the sheer overload of diseases present in their body.**

**Antibiotics: Drugs prescribed to help fight a certain illness. Bacterial infections can be resistant to antibiotics, and require heavier treatment to combat.**

**The common cold: A very basic disease characterized by sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose. Poses a minimal threat to healthy people.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 5: Lunch and a an explanation.**

**By Matson (M16A2)**

**(M16A2's note: A few things. 1) Sorry for not updating in so long, I had surgery to pull my wisdom teeth. You tell me how easy it is to write a GOOD fan fiction story while hopped up on Vicodin. 2) Yes I know the chapter is short, the next one will be longer, I promise. 3) More reviews=More chapters! Review dammit! 4) Because 7/20 was my birthday, I am changing my nickname to "M16A2". 5) I take all criticism, but no flames. 6) Jerlita rules. 7) I liek bread :)**

The group left the factory later that afternoon and headed down into the sewers.

"Come on guys! It's lunch time, and I think it's mashed potatoes day!" Odd exclaimed, slowly getting ahead of the group.

"You go ahead, Odd. I need to go back to the dorms and write up Jeremie's prescriptions." Colton said.

"Can I have your portion if you're skipping lunch?" Odd replied.

"Sure, whatever." Colton said. He was too busy thinking to worry about the greyish slop the school called lunch.

"Sweet!" Odd cheered, his face beaming. He was obviously eager to get back to lunch.

"What prescriptions are you giving him anyways?" Yumi asked.

"Well, I may have a few pain killers and some antibiotics on hand to treat stuff like this, but I'm not a pharmacy." Colton replied.

"Hey wait, isn't carrying pain killers and prescription strength meds on you without so much as a doctor's note illegal?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh God yes." Colton replied. "A lot of the stuff I do with medicine is completely illegal for someone without a license to do, but then again, so is toying around with a machine that has the potential to wipe out an entire continent."

"Good point." Ulrich said.

"What pills am I going to have to take?" Jeremie asked.

"Like I said, I'm not a pharmacy, I don't have everything I could possibly use, but I'm thinking of giving him a few rounds of amoxicilin and something else. It's the only antibiotic I have that can combat his form of pneumonia."

"Okay, I have no clue what that is, so I'll trust your judgment like I trust his." Odd said, referring to Jeremie.

"Oh, and I wanted to know why we don't just take Jeremie to a _regular _hospital and get help there? It's not that I don't trust your abilities, I just think we could get some more advanced help there." Star asked.

"That was actually my first idea, but then I did some thinking. With Jeremie's current state, the hospital has the right to say that his condition is too unstable and that he'll be forbidden to leave until he's cured. What if Xana takes the opportunity to attack? We won't be able to bail him out with the tight security they have."

"Couldn't I just take his place at the computer? I've done it before." Aelita replied.

"It's not the supercomputer I'm worried about, it's the fact that Xana has the ability to take over machines, what if he gets a hold of one Jeremie's hooked up to? We could lose him faster that way then if we were to let the pneumonia kill him." Colton explained.

"Ah, that makes sense. We'll just have to use what we have available." Yumi commented.

"Sadly though, that isn't a whole lot. I only have one antibiotic in reserve that can treat his form of pneumonia." Colton said. "But that's a fixable problem. A few, ***Ahem,** **foraged,*** notes can fix that. I just need to figure out to give him." The group reached the end of the tunnel.

"Well that's all good and stuff, but it's lunch time so I'll catch you all after my mashed potatoes!" Odd said as he started climbing up the latter."

"Lunch does sound pretty good right now." Ulrich said and followed Odd up the latter.

"I'm coming with you guys." Yumi called and headed up.

"You'd better not leave me behind!" Star called and proceeded up the latter.

"You two head off to lunch, I'm going back to my room to write up the prescriptions for Jeremie. Oh, and Jeremie, please eat this time. I don't think Aelita would like it if her crush died on her." Colton said nonchalantly and headed up the latter. The blonde and pinkette looked at each other, then promptly looked away shyly. They began blushing madly as they processed what he had said.


	6. Deadly experiences

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 6: Deadly experiences**

**By M16A2**

Within no time, Colton had returned to the lunch room, bearing four bottles of pills for Jeremie.

"Okay." Colton said, sitting down. "Here are all of the antibiotics you'll need to combat the pneumonia. Take one of these each morning with breakfast and it should help clean up the infection in your lungs."Colton replied.

"One to three months?" Jeremie yelled, stunned. "That's _way _too long!"

"Well, Jeremie, the pneumonia has infected a great deal of your lungs. Hell, your left lung is only functioning at 33%, too much strain on them and it's game over for you." Colton said sharply. Aelita stared at Jeremie with a look of worry.

"Are you sure we shouldn't take Jeremie to the hospital?" Yumi asked.

"Right now, I'm more sure than ever! With Jeremie's physical integrity, one attack on the life support systems will kill Jeremie, guaranteed." Colton said.

"What can we do? Jeremie's incredibly vulnerable like this!" Star said.

"That's why I've added an immune supplement, it'll help patch up a bit of the damage caused by the pneumonia to where he's not going to die from the common cold." Colton said.

"Well, that all sounds good, but." Jeremie paused mid sentence. He had a disgusted expression on his face. "But." He repeated. Then, suddenly, Jeremie fell backwards, passing out on the cafeteria floor.

"Jeremie!" Aelita and Colton chorused. The Lyoko warriors all sprang to his side. Jeremie had passed out from suffocation.

**(M16A2's note: Shortest chapter ever! Yeah sorry about that, I'll update as soon as possible.)**


	7. A Narrow Survival

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 7: A narrow survival**

**By M16A2**

"Breathe Jeremie!" Colton yelled, pressing hard on Jeremie's chest. "Damn it boy, breathe!" Colton continued pressing on Jeremie's chest, each time harder than the last. Finally, Jeremie began coughing. He sat up slowly, coughing up something from deep inside his lungs.

"Thank God, Jeremie! You're okay!" Aelita said, feeling a massive wave of relief sweep over her.

"Yeah, he's awake now. Are you okay Jeremie?" Colton asked. Jeremie opened his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of his friends huddled around his bed, they all had looks of relief on their faces.

"Yeah." Jeremie said between coughs. "I'm okay." Aelita handed him a tissue. Only then did Jeremie notice the lines of tears across her face. "Aelita, were you crying?" Aelita flinched, wiping her face in response.

"A little." Aelita said, trying to hide the fact she'd been crying her eyes out since Jeremie passed out.

"Why were you crying?" Jeremie asked. Aelita didn't respond.

"She was worried her one true love was dying right in front of her!" Odd blurted out with a grin.

"Odd! Be quiet!" Aelita yelled as her cheeks began turning a mild shade of magenta. There was a short silence as Aelita glared at Odd. Jeremie's cheeks had adopted a slight color of scarlet with Odd's remark.

"What happened?" Jeremie finally asked, shattering the short silence.

"You passed out in the middle of the lunchroom!" Yumi said.

"I did? I don't remember passing out." Jeremie said. "The last thing I remember was being forced by Aelita to get lunch." Odd grinned at Aelita. Aelita flashed him a dirty look. "Then the next thing I know, Colton's slamming on my chest."

"The pneumonia in your system must have suffocated you, this is really bad." Colton said.

"Why is it so bad?" Jeremie asked.

"Because the pneumonia in your system is now restricting your breathing, even at points of rest. This means your pneumonia has hit an advanced stage, and it poses an immediate threat to your life." Colton said, urgency apparent in his tone. "If it gets any worse, we're going to have to take you to the hospital, no questions. It's either that or you'll die, Jeremie." There was a very long, uncomfortable silence following Colton's diagnosis.

"If we take him to the hospital, Xana might try to kill him in there! You said so yourself!" Star said.

"If the pneumonia hits that point, we won't have any other option. It's either death or a chance of death. Personally, I'm in favor of the chance of survival." Colton replied. "Look, the best treatment right now is to just go to bed and let your body repair the internal damage. At this point, pure rest is the only thing that's going to pull you out of this infection."

"Alright, I'll just work on the anti vi-"

"No Jeremie." Colton said, cutting Jeremie off in mid sentence. "No anti virus, you need to sleep, that's it. Staying up all night and working on the anti virus is what got you like this." Jeremie let out a sigh.

"Fine. I'll sleep." Jeremie groaned. He got up and grabbed his pajamas and left to change.

"Well Doctor Ratchet." Odd said, referring to Colton. "May we please return to our lunch now that we've saved Einstein?"

"Your best friend almost dies of pneumonia and all you can think about is lunch, Odd?" Colton asked, slightly disgusted in Odd's attitude toward Jeremie's near death experience.

"He's alive isn't he?" Odd said. "I made sure he survived first!" Colton rolled his eyes.

"Fine, let's go. We still have a good-thirty minutes left in lunch." Colton said, glancing down at his watch.

"Sweet! Mashed potatoes here I come!" Odd cheered, leaving the room in a hunger driven frenzy. The rest of the warriors followed close behind, all except for Aelita, who watched as Jeremie made his way to the restrooms.

"Jeremie, I'm so happy you're still alive." She whispered to herself, imagining Jeremie could hear her plea. "Please just rest, I can't bear to see you die." She turned the other way and caught up with the rest of the group.

"Took you long enough to get out of your boyfriend's room!" Odd said flippantly. Aelita didn't even notice, she was too busy thinking.


	8. Did we just steal a car?

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 8: Did we just steal a car?**

**By M16A2**

Jeremie sat in his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Aelita and Colton had forced Jeremie off of his computer and forced him to rest to fight the infection in his lungs. However, sleep eluded Jeremie, for he was to immersed in his thoughts about Aelita. She'd been _crying_ about his near-death. Crying!

"_Does this mean something?"_ Jeremie thought, reviewing the thought over and over. _"Would she cry about Odd passing out if he were in my place? She might, but would she be as torn as if it were me?"_

Jeremie was interrupted from his thoughts as the beeping from his desktop signaled a Xana attack.

"_At least I have an excuse to get out of bed now!" _Jeremie said. He stood up, and almost instantly was hit with imbalance. He stumbled a bit, almost collapsing onto the floor. He got his ground, and reached for his phone, which was laying on Colton's bed. He quickly sent an SOS text to the other warriors and ran out the door, almost slamming into Colton as he ran out.

"Whoa, where are you going in such a rush?" Colton asked. Right then, Colton got the SOS text. "Oh, okay, come on let's go." Colton said as he turned the other direction and started jogging. "Are you going to be okay?" Jeremie let out a cough.

"Yeah, let's go." Jeremie said and followed a short distance behind Colton. The two left the building and grouped up with everyone else in the courtyard. Jeremie was coughing wildly from the short run to the courtyard.

"I don't think I'm going to make it guys, it's too far and I can barely breathe just running down here!" Jeremie choked out.

"I was afraid this was going to happen." Colton said, looking around. "This is going to require drastic measures."

"What are "drastic measures"?" Ulrich asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Aelita, do you have a hairpin?" Colton asked. Aelita pulled a pin out of her hair and handed it to Colton upon request. Odd looked at her in shock.

"Wait a second, how do you have a hairpin? Your hair is always messed-"

"Thank you Aelita." Colton said, cutting off Odd mid-sentence. Aelita flashed Odd a dirty look as Colton made his way over to a parked black sedan.

"Xana's attacking so we won't have time to finesse this." Colton said, twisting the pin.

"Finesse what?" Yumi asked. Without replying, Colton stepped back and kicked the window, shattering it to bits of glass. Aelita let out a scream as the car's alarm sounded. Colton quickly opened the door from the inside and jumped in the driver's seat. He quickly used the hairpin to hot wire the car.

"Colton, this isn't a good idea!" Yumi called, she looked around for police who might have seen Colton bust into the car.

"I know this is a bad idea, Yumi! But we're kind of in a jam right now and I don't think that Jeremie will make it to the factory any other way!" Colton yelled, battling the ignition and the alarm system of the car. Ten seconds later, the car's alarm fell silent as the car roared to life. Colton let out a victorious laugh. "Got it going!" He turned to see the other Lyoko warriors staring at him in shock and disbelief.

"Get in! We have to go now!" Colton called.

"Shotgun!" Odd called, running around to the front of the car. The rest of the warriors all piled into the back seat.

"Colton, can you drive?" Star asked from the back seat.

"I'd guess we're about to find out. Colton said, putting the sedan in gear. The warriors buckled their seat beats in response. Colton hit the gas on the sedan, making the sedan jerk out into the street. Within minutes, the Lyoko warriors had pulled out onto the street.

"The factory is just up the street, let's get there and stop Xana before he can try something!" Ulrich called. Colton immediately swerved to avoid smashing head on with another car. The Lyoko warriors were thrown to the side of the car.

"Colton, are you sure you can drive?" Aelita asked.

"Not even remotely, but there's the factory!" Colton said, swerving again. Just up the street lay the factory, just as Colton had called it.

"Watch out for the telephone po-!" Aelita was cut off as Colton drove the sedan straight into a telephone pole, instantly totaling the car. Moans could be heard from inside the car, but everyone was okay.

**(M16A2's note: WEAR YOUR DAMN SEAT BELTS! THEY SAVE LIVES! I ALMOST LOST MINE FROM NOT TAKING TWO SECONDS TO PUT IT ON!)**

"Great driving." Ulrich mumbled, regaining his awareness. He unbuckled his belt and stepped out of the car, brushing glass off of his clothes. Yumi followed shortly behind him, then Star, Aelita, and finally Jeremie. Colton kicked the door of the driver's side door out and crawled out. Odd followed shortly behind.

"There's the factory, it wasn't a total failure, now was it?" Colton said as he started the short jog to the factory.

"Despite the fact that I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, no it wasn't." Star hissed as she started after him. The other warriors ran shortly behind them. Within minutes, the warriors had reached the super computer and Jeremie began the virtualization process, sending Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi to Lyoko. Odd, Star, and Colton were next. As they stepped into the scanners, however, a loud crash could be heard from above.

"Another day, another attempt for Xana to kill us!" Odd said.

"Let's go see what Xana has planned this time!" Star replied. The three warriors stepped into elevator and pressed up. The doors sealed shut as the elevator started the climb upwards toward the mainframe room. Suddenly, another loud crash rocked the elevator, making it squeal to a dead stop.

"What was that?" Star said in a panicked tone. There was another crash, and the elevator screeched downward a few feet.

"I think the elevator was a trap!" Odd said in a worried tone. "We've got to get out of here!" Star ran over the the elevator controls and pulled them open, exposing the keypad and emergency stop. Without hesitation, Star slammed on the switch in an attempt to open the doors to the shaft. The elevator crashed and slid down another few feet in response.

"It won't work!" Star yelled in horror. "What do we now?" The warriors quickly looked around the small elevator, hoping to find a means of escape.

"Look right there!" Colton called, pointing at the ceiling. "The emergency escape panel! We can use it to escape!"

"Give me a boost, once I get up I'll pull you two out!" Odd suggested. Colton knelt down and quickly lifted Odd up to the ceiling. Odd pushed the hatch open and quickly climbed through, offering his hand down to Star. He quickly helped her up before offering assistance to Colton. Colton took Odd's hand, but he was too heavy for the adolescent boy to pick up.

"Damn Colton, you're heavy!" Odd said, lifting with all of his strength.

"Wish I could say the same for you!" Colton called. Odd ignored the insult and continued pulling, finally pulling enough to get Colton up to the hatch ledge, Colton pulled himself up the rest of the way.

Quick, get to the service ladder!" Colton called.

"I don't know, pulling you up really drained me!" Odd said with an exhausted tone. Another, louder crash from the elevator forced Odd to his feet. "Okay, break time over!" Odd yelled, running to the service ladder. Star climbed onto the ladder, climbing up enough to allow Odd to get onto the ladder behind her. Colton reached for the ladder, but the elevator dropped a few more feet, throwing him to the ground. Before he could recover, the elevator's cord snapped, sending the elevator, and Colton, down into the dark abyss of the shaft.

"Colton!" Star yelled in shock. A loud boom could be heard as the elevator slammed into the bottom. It was too far too see if Colton was okay though. Odd and Star hung on the ladder, staring into the pitch black of the abyss, trying to comprehend what just happened. Finally Odd broke the silence that followed.

"He might be okay, I'll go down and look! You go up and make sure Jeremie hasn't been killed yet!" Odd called.

"But... Colton just..." Star said, still overcome with shock.

"Go! We might lose Jeremie too if you don't help him!" Odd called. Star seemed to understand, as she promptly looked up and began climbing up toward the supercomputer's mainframe. Odd took a breath and began climbing downward.

**(M16A2's note: Two updates consecutively! :D Oh and let's hope we don't lose two warriors at the same time...)**


	9. Two lives hang in the balance

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 9**

**Two lives hanging in the balance**

**By M16A2**

**(M16A2's note: Thanks for all of the great reviews! To my wonderful readers, here is another chapter, updated fast just for you!)**

Odd carefully climbed down the shaft, getting closer and closer to the wreckage of the elevator. He imagined a worst scenario, with a completely disfigured and bloody Colton at the bottom of the shaft, barely clinging on to life. As Odd descended lower, he could hear moans, from whom he hoped was Colton.

"Colton? Are you okay?" Odd called, climbing down another rung. The only response was more moans from down in the abyss. Odd continued down, to the point where he could see the mangled remains of the elevator. It was a lethal deathtrap, with razor-like shards of metal protruding from the wreckage and thick lengths of electrical wire everywhere. Odd stepped off of the emergency ladder onto the remains of the safety hatch.

"Colton? Where are you?" Odd called, looking around. A hand weakly reached up from the wreckage, beaconing for Odd. Odd rushed over to find a severely bloodied Colton covered by a mass of wires and bits of metal. "Colton!" Odd yelled with urgency in his tone. He quickly began pulling bits of wire and metal off of Colton until he could see the full extent of the fall. Colton was in serious condition. Pieces of bloodied metal piping had impaled him through the stomach twice and once through his right shoulder, narrowly missing his neck by mere centimeters. He was struggling to breathe, and blood leaked out from an injury to the back of his head. Odd was speechless.

"Wha-what happened?" Colton asked weakly.

"The elevator crashed down while you were still on it!" Odd said. He examined the rest of the elevator. "It's a good thing you weren't inside! You would've been crushed!" Colton shook his head to agree.

"I can tell from here that these injures are fatal, before long I will have lost too much blood to live." Colton said, cringing at each word. Odd flinched from shock, realizing Colton was about to die. "The only thing we can do at this point is run the return to the past, thus reversing the injuries."

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do right now?" Odd asked, looking for a way to help Colton.

"If we try to move me from my current position, it'll only worsen the damage and increase the rate I lose blood, Odd." Colton said, his voice grew weaker. "On top of that, I'd doubt I'll be able to climb that shaft!"

"What do we do then?" Odd asked.  
>"Get to Lyoko as fast as you can and run the return to the past, before I can bleed to death." Colton said, his voice still very weak.<p>

"Okay, I'll make it fast." Odd said, and turned to the elevator ladder. Colton lay back, trying to control his heart and slow how fast he bled out.

Odd bolted the the mainframe room, where Jeremie was slumped over his keyboard, barely awake. Star was no where to be found.

"Jeremie! Are you okay?" Odd asked, shaking his shoulder.

"Star is- Lyoko, too many monsters, overvehicles- somewhere." Jeremie said. He was having a very hard time breathing and appeared very disoriented.

"What's going on Jeremie? Are you feeling okay?" Odd asked again. Jeremie looked at Odd, his eyes having almost no life to them. "Jeremie?" Odd asked again, very worried. Jeremie closed his eyes and fell out of the chair, collapsing onto the floor. He was unconscious and struggling to breathe.

"Jeremie!" A voice called through the communication channels. It was Aelita, her and the rest of the warriors were surrounded by Xana's monsters. "We need help! Where's Odd at?" Odd plucked Jeremie's headset off of his face.

"Uhh, Aelita?" Odd asked through the headset.

"Odd? Where's Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"He's passed out!" Odd replied with urgency.

"Passed out? Oh no!" Aelita called.

"I need to get to Lyoko! What are the codes for the virtualization process?" Odd asked.

"Didn't Jeremie teach you the commands?" Aelita asked.

"I didn't pay attention!"

"What? Oh, Odd!" Odd could tell that Aelita was upset.

"We don't have time for this! Jeremie's unconscious and Colton's bleeding to death in the elevator shaft!" Odd yelled. "Can you just tell me the codes?"

"Colton's bleeding to death?" Aelita asked, in even more shock.

"Aelita! The codes!"

"Right!" Aelita responded. She promptly told him all of the code he needed to launch a delayed virtualization. Within two minutes Odd was being virtualized to Lyoko. Upon virtualization, he was dropped in the center of a firefight on a bridge in the mountain sector, where Aelita, Yumi, Star, and Ulrich were fighting waves of Hornets.

"Yumi! Right behind you!" Ulrich warned, notifying her of an incoming blast. She ducked, successfully dodging the blast.

"Odd! Where have you been?" Star asked. "And where's Colton?! His shotgun would be _very _helpful right about now!"

"He's bleeding to death at the bottom of the elevator shaft! We need to hurry up and launch the return to the past!" Odd said, firing a few laser arrows at the waves of hornets.

"What?" Star yelled, narrowly dodging another laser blast.

"We have to hurry then!" Ulrich instructed. "Odd! Escort Aelita to the tower! We'll keep their attention here!"

"Right, let's hurry Aelita." Odd said. Odd and Aelita turned and sprinted toward the tower, leaving Star, Yumi, and Ulrich to fight off the waves of hornets. Xana obviously caught onto the escape plan, because he sent four Bloks to ambush Odd and Aelita at the end of the bridge.

"Watch out, Bloks!" Aelita warned.

"Just four big targets if you ask me." Odd said, priming his laser arrows. The Bloks open-fired on Odd, two of them firing lasers, the other two firing ice. Odd quickly sprang out of the way, feeling the ice blast shave the hair on his tail. Odd returned fire with his laser arrows, and put three shots squarely into the face of a Blok, causing it to explode. The other three launched a combination of lasers and ice, trying to hit the agile purple-clad figure, but each shot landed just behind him. Odd stopped, then sprang into the air, unloaded on the bloks with the last of his laser arrows. However, Odd only managed to hit two of the three bloks before running completely out of arrows. When Odd hit the ground, he was face-to-face with a Blok, which was charging it's ice laser. Odd stepped back in shock.

"Uh, hey! Sorry for killing your friends! Can we have a draw or something?" Odd asked, taking another step back. The Blok only charged it's laser even more, preparing to devirtualize the warrior with one shot.

"Didn't think so.." Odd said, shielding his face with his hands. Right before the Blok could fire, it turned pink, before collapsing to the ground, exploding into a flurry of red bits of code. Odd peeked up to see his enemy had been blown to pieces. Aelita walked up from behind Odd.

"I'm not _completely _helpless, Odd." Aelita said in a sweet, yet flippant tone. The path to the tower was clear, allowing Aelita to head into the tower and launch the Code Lyoko process, and ultimately, begin the return to the past.

"Please let Jeremie be okay..." Aelita whispered, as the return to the past engulfed the tower and set the world back to Aelita's designated time.


	10. Are they alive?

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter Ten**

**Are they still alive?**

**By M16A2**

**(M16A2's note: TOO ALL OF MY FAITHFUL READERS! I'm so sorry for not updating for months! My laptop was totalled back in January! Now that I have a tablet to run with, I SHALL CONTINUE THE UPDATING ON MY STORIES! Also, I am accepting story requests, message me with details! Lastly, my girlfriend and I are starting a new story, Code: Belpois 2!)**

Aelita woke with a start. Glancing at her alarm clock, she saw that the return trip to the past had set time back 32 hours. Before she coukd give it a second thought, Aelita got up and ran out of her room to Jeremie and Colton's room. Upon arrival, she didn't hesitate to bust into their dorm out of sheer concern. To her relief, she saw Jeremie and Colton, both boys lay sprawled out upright on thier beds, they were passed out . She quickly went over to Jeremie and put two trembling fingers to his neck. Through her shakey fingers, she found a weak pulse. Jeremie was still alive!

"Jeremie! Wake up!" Aelita said, sharply shaking the boy's shoulder. Jeremie moaned in response.

"Huh? What?" The disoriented Jeremie opened one eye and spotted Aelita. "Hey Aelita!" Jeremie smiled. "What happened?"

"You passed out from your pnuemonia infection before the return to the past! You had me scared to death!" Aelita said. Just then, Odd busted into the room, followed by Ulrich and Yumi.

"Jeremie!" Odd called. "You're alive!"

"Yeah I'm okay, what about Colton?" Jeremie asked. All eyes turned to thunconsciousus adolescent boy. Just then, Star bolted into the room.

"Jeremie! You're okay!" Star said, relief in her voice. She turned to Colton. "Is he okay?" Yumi sat next to Colton amd put two fingers to his neck, searching for a pulse. The other warriors piled around Yumi, waiting for her conclusion. Shock and awe suddenly speard across Yumi's face.

"He..." She started. The other warriors stared at her with wide eyes. "There's no pulse!"

**(M16A2's note: Sorry for the short chapter! The next one will be longer, but please review!)**


	11. What!

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 11**

**What?!**

**By M16A3**

**(M16A3's note: Cyanide 6, I'd like to thank you for reading and reviewing my stories constantly. That's right, I'm shamlessly thanking a fellow fanfiction writer in my stories. He deserves it. Also, no one will understand this, but LHA + M16A3 FOREVER3)**

"What?!" Star asked in disbelief. Yumi looked at her in shock before repeating herself.

"He has no pulse! He's dead!" Yumi shrieked.

"Too late.." Odd muttered, looking down in a depressed manner. The sense of loss consumed him. "We were too slow this time.."

"How could this have happened?" Star yelled. "He... He can't die! Who's going to help Jeremie?!" All eyes went to Jeremie. Even though time had only turned back a day, Jeremie looked worse than ever. His normally magenta cheeks had lost all color, and his face looked much bonier than normal. While his eyes still held their sapphire twinkle of life, the spark was beginning to fade away from his body's physical state. His healthy blonde hair had lost some of it's color and strength, turning to a dry, lifeless heap. Jeremie was a dying wreck.

"Don't tell me we're going to lose Jeremie too..." Ulrich muttered in a low tone. Jeremie, obviously unaware of his physical state, looked to each of his friend's concerned expressions with confusion.

"I'm fine!" Jeremie exclaimed. His voice was incredibly soft, dying from the infection in his lungs. "I think there's a way to save Colton! We need to get to the supercomputer!"

"Wait, Jeremie-!" Aelita tried to stop him, but it was too late. Jeremie tried to stand up, but the second he got to his feet, the expression on his face went completely blank, and Jeremie stumbled backwards, slamming his head against the wall with a foundation-shaking crack. Aelita shrieked as the Lyoko warriors gathered around Jeremie. Slowly, Jeremie opened his eyes and put a hand to his head.

"Oh, my head..." Jeremie moaned. "What happened?" The warriors exchanged puzzled expressions, waiting for someone to explain what just happened. Star began to speak, but promptly stopped as she heard someone _else_ speak.

"What the hell is all that banging for?" A unbelievably familiar voice moaned. All eyes turned to the seemingly dead adolescent boy, whom was slowly getting up on his feet.

"Colton...?!" Yumi asked in shock. Colton stood up.

"What happened?" Colton asked with a slightly annoyed expression. Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Colton stared back blankly. "Why are you all looking me like that? Do I have Xana on my face?" The silence lasted for what seemed like an eternity.

"Are you a zombie?" Odd finally asked. Colton stared at Odd for a few seconds before pressing two fingers to his neck.

"My vital signs feel normal, and I'm in the mood for eggs, not blood, so I'd like to say no." Colton replyed in a joking manner. "Why...?"

"Yumi took your pulse when you were unconscious! When she couldn't find anything, we assumed you were killed before the return to the past!" Ulrich yelled. Colton looked at the ground, deep in thought.

"I can remember that I survived the fall long enough to get sent back in time..." Colton said. "So why didn't I have-" Colton's face suddenly lit up. "Yumi, you took my pulse, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Yumi asked.

"Where _exactly_ did you search for a pulse?" Colton asked, cocking an eyebrow. Yumi pointed to her throat, directly above her trachea. Colton began laughing uncontrollably.

"Yumi! You looked in the _wrong_ place!" Colton laughed. "The carotid artery is on the _side_ of the throat!" Everyone looked at Yumi with amused expressions. Yumi flashed an annoyed look.

"Shut up! Medicine isn't my strongest subject!" Yumi snapped.

"Well what is?" Ulrich joked. Yumi stared at him before replying.

"I'm pretty good at kicking your butt!" Yumi replied, giving him a large grin. Ulrich ignored her comment.

"Well, now that Colton's alive, can we _please _find out what's wrong with Jeremie?" Odd asked.

"What happened?" Colton asked.

"Jeremie stood up, and then fell back and smashed his head into the wall!" Aelita said, her voice filled with concern. Colton immediately turned to Jeremie.

"Jeremie, when you stood up, did everything go black for a second or so?" Colton asked.

"Yeah. When I stood up, everything slowly went dark, then the next thing I know, Aelita screams and I'm back in bed with a nasty headache." Jeremie replied.

"You stood up too fast, causing the blood pressure in your brain to temporarily drop." Colton concluded almost instantly. "It's nothing serious, but eating will definitely keep it from happening again."

"Lunch sounds like a terrific idea!" Odd exclaimed. "I think it's nacho day!"

"Nachos would be a nice change to the junk we normally have." Ulrich said.

"Jeremie, you need to rest, I'll have Aelita bring up some food for you, your current condition is too weak for any sort of activity aside rest." Colton said. Jeremie looked from Colton to Aelita before reluctantly agreeing.

"Fine, just keep Odd off of my food?" Jeremie said, crawling into his bed.

"We'll see about that!" Odd called as the others followed him shortly. As Jeremie rested his head against the pillow, an overpowering sense of extreme exhaustion and drowsiness immediately slammed into him, and Jeremie was in a deep, powerful sleep within seconds. His only thoughts were trained solely on Aelita


	12. Was that a dream?

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 12**

**Was that a dream?**

**By M16A3**

**(M16A3's note: Many of you may have noticed my penname changed yet again. Many of my veteran readers will know that this was because of my recent birthday (18 yrs.) so now I go by M16A3, the THIRD version of the M16A1.)**

Jeremie was asleep before he hit the pillow. His sleep loss and the overwhelming infection in his lungs put Jeremie into a powerful state of exhaustion. Yet something, a very odd sensation, awoke Jeremie from his powerful sleep. Slowly, he opened his eyes, just enough to see a blurry patch of pink. Opening them a little bit more, he could see Aelita, eyes closed, her face mere inches away from his. Her eys were shut and she had a velvet red blush across her face. Jeremie suddenly realized something. She was _kissing_ him! Jeremie was too shocked to move or even speak! instead he sat there, feeling the warm sensation of Aelita's kiss upon his lips. Jeremie was overpowered with the sense of shock, happiness, and exhaustion, he couldn't tell if this was real or not! Slowly, Aelita opened her eyes, and was met with the wide eyes of the blonde boy. Feeling a sense of shock rush through her, she quickly broke away and stood up, the blush on her face reddening even more. Without saying a word, she turned and left the room in a rush. Jeremie could feel the overpowering sense of exhaustion return, and within seconds, he was out cold yet again.

**(M16A3's note: Yes, this was a shorty. Review and I'll update faster ;))**


	13. Death's calling

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 13**

**Death's calling**

**By M16A3**

Jeremie woke up. He was drenched in sweat, and his hands were shaking violently. Panic began to set in as his breathing locked up. He tried to breathe, but when he sucked in, it felt like water plugged up his lungs, and he coughed out violently, sending bloody droplets into his hands and onto the blankets. In a paniced rush, Jeremie grabbed his cell phone off the desk and quickly called Colton. It rang for what seemed to Jeremie like an eternity. Finally, Colton's voice broke through the speaker.

"Hello?" Colton asked. Jeremie tried to yell, but his lungs had plugged up again, silencing his plea for help. Jeremie was suffocating, and his lungs felt like they were on fire.

"Jeremie? Is that you? Is something wrong?" Colton asked. Again Jeremie tried yelling, but his lungs would not budge. Jeremie felt fear overpower him as a black halo closed in around his vision. His lungs burned from deoxygenation.

_"This is how I'm going to die!" _Jeremie thought. As his vision grew increasing dark, his thoughts turned to Aelita. He thought back to the kiss she gave him. He could feel the love he had for her overpower everything else, and using every muscle in his body, he sucked in with as much force he could get. His limbs began tingling as fresh oxygen broke past the diseased barrier in his lungs. With everything he had, he yelled out through the phone.

**"HELP!" **Bloody sputum expoded from his lungs over his phone and on his blankets.

"Jeremie! Hang on buddy! We're on our way!" Colton yelled through the phone.

"Stay away from the light" Odd's voice called. Jeremie had no strength left. His call for help drained everything he had, including oxygen. Jeremie lay back, unable to breathe again. Slowly, he fell unconcious, never hearing Ulrich kick the door down.

**(M16A3's note: This could be it for Jeremie! Review fast to see what happens next!)**


	14. A state of emergency

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 14**

**A state of emergency**

**Time: Moments before Jeremie's struggle**

**By M16A3**

**M16A3's note: To all of my amazing readers, I do indeed read your reviews, including yours, mirandalovespie. Thank you for your reviews to this story, even something so small as "That was good" helps out a lot! For mirandalovespie, keep an eye out for a suprise I've included into the story, just for you... To all of my readers, I LOVE YOU ALL!)**

The Lyoko warriors, minus Jeremie, sat at the lunch table, talking about random topics. Odd was babbling on about one of his favorite video games, while Colton and Aelita stayed mostly quiet.

"So then I blasted the pillar at the center of the room, grabbed the artifact from inside, and went up to the lock to fight Ridley!"

"Isn't that an older game, Odd?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, but they updated it and added all three games into one single game a little while ago! It was fun getting to play it again." Odd said, proudly.

"I really don't care for games with giant, ugly, metal dragons in them, let alone most video games in general." Star said.

"That's because you're missing quite a few key parts of life in development!" Odd said with a grin. Star gave him an annoyed look.

"Odd, that's the most _developed_ sentence I've ever heard you say!" Yumi commented, making everyone at the table laugh. Odd flashed her a dirty look.

"Speaking of keys." Colton finally said. "Aelita, do you still have the key to my room?" Aelita sat motionless for a second, staring at Colton as if she didn't understand what he meant.

"Aelita?" Colton called. Aelita slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out Colton's spare key.

"You went into Jeremie's room?" Odd asked with a smirk. There was a short pause before Aelita responded.

"Um.. Yes.." She said quietly.

"What for?" Odd asked, his smile growing wider.

"Odd, I gave her my key so she could deliver food to Jeremie as he slept, I was stuck in German at the time, so I asked her to do it. Give the girl a break, I'd doubt she did anything besides go in, put food on the table, and leave. Right Aelita?" Colton asked. Aelita remained speechless. A blush began to grown on her face.

"Aelita?" Yumi asked. Aelita opened her mouth to speak, but just before she could say anything, Colton's cell phone began ringing.

"Speak of the devil." Colton said. He pressed answer and held the phone up to his hear. "Hello?"

"So Aelita, just taking food to Jeremie, huh?" Odd asked, grinning ear to ear. Aelita's blush only grew bigger as Odd continued to interrogate her. "Are you sure you didn't do anything else?" Again, Aelita remained completely silent. Yumi and Star both decided to join in on the fun.

"Now I'm beginning to wonder if something really _did _happen!" Yumi said, staring Aelita right in the eyes. Everyone besides Colton stared straight at Aelita grinning madly. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a loud "Help" being yelled out from Colton's phone.

"Jeremie! Hang on buddy! We're on our way!" Colton yelled, standing up out of his seat. The other warriors, sensing something was wrong, all stood out of their seats as well.

"Jeremie's about to die from his pneumonia, we have to get up to the room to help him!" Colton said, urgency bleeding from his tone.

"Stay out of the light!" Odd yelled. The warriors quickly turned and began the sprint to their dying friend, completely oblivious to the dorm room key that had been left behind on the lunch table. Despite being one of the team's physcially weaker ones, Aelita sprinted faster than the rest of the warriors to Jeremie's dorm room. Upon arriving, Colton immediately searched his pocket for his key. Suddenly his eyes doubled in size. He yelled something profane in English.

"What's wrong?" Yumi yelled.

"I left my key on the lunchroom table!" Colton yelled. "We need to hurry back and get it!"

"No time!" Ulrich yelled. He took a step back, and with one powerful kick, smashed the door clean off of it's hinges. Not wasting any time the warriors dashed in the room to Jeremie's aid.

"Oh my God, he's not breathing!" Aelita shrieked.

"And his bed is covered in blood!" Star yelled.

"Did Xana finish him off?" Odd yelled. Colton quickly knelt down to Jeremie's side. He calmly put two fingers to his neck, searching for a pulse. After a few seconds, Colton opened his eyes, which were shut tightly.

"He still has a pulse! He's alive, but only barely!" Colton called. Carefully, Colton put his head to Jeremie's chest, listening intently. "He's suffocating on the buildup in his lungs, if he can break past it, he should recover!" Colton prompty began pressing down on Jeremie's chest, trying to get him to breathe.

"Come on, Jeremie, BREATHE!" Colton said. Everyone began holding their breath in anticipation. Colton continued pressing down on Jeremie's chest, hoping to dislodge the blockage in his lungs. Then suddenly, Jeremie let out a small cough, followed by another, and another! Colton let off of Jeremie's chest as the young adolescent boy began coughing and hacking. Although more blood came from his coughing, Colton looked relieved.

"He's alive! He's alright!" Colton said victoriously. Everyone in the room yelled happily as Jeremie began breathing normally after the coughing fits. Yumi and Ulrich even embraced one another out of the moment, but promptly broke away after realizing what they had done.

"Oh, thank you God." Colton said out of relief. "Odd, can you go grab a few paper towels from the bathroom? I think Delmas might be a bit worried if he sees blood splattered all over the walls." Odd left to grab paper towels as Jeremie slowly woke up.

"Ow, my head. What happened? Why are you all here? Colton, why is our door broken?" Jeremie asked, putting a hand to his forehead.

"You had a near death experience with pneumonia, passed out, Ulrich kicked down the door because it was locked and I forgot the key, and that's about it. Suprise!" Colton yelled.

"Forgot the key..? I left the door unlocked!" Jeremie said weakly. Colton's eyes doubled in size.

"Ulrich, check the door..." Colton called. Ulrich stepped over to the wooden door, which was now lying on it's hinges next to Colton's bed. He turned the knob, and it twisted with ease, signalling that it was indeed, unlocked. Odd reentered the room with a bunch of wet paper towels as Colton screamed something profane in English again. Star began laughing and said something back to Colton in English. Colton simply gave her an annoyed look and turned his attention back to Jeremie.

"Just head back to bed, I'm going to clean up this whole mess." Colton said.

"What do we do now?" Odd said. "He almost died this time!"

"There's not much we _can_ do. Jeremie is on the strongest stuff I have, if I give him anything else, he could die of toxic shock from the amount of drugs in his system." Colton said.

"So we just leave Jeremie to die? That doesn't seem like a good idea!" Ulrich said.

"There is good news in all of this. Did any of you notice the blood stains on the wall?" Colton asked.

"Why do you ask us stuff like this? Of course we didn't." Yumi said.

"Of course not. " Colton said with a laugh. "The splatters on the wall were _blood_, not mucas or pus."

"So this means?" Yumi asked, giving him a disgusted look.

"A person sick with pneumonia would have significant amounts of mucas and pus in their sputum, because that's the body's primary way of fighting it. With only blood, that shows that the lungs are scarred up, but..."

"They aren't infected!" Star yelled with a smile.

"Or at least not too bad." Colton said smiling. "The antibiotics are working! Now his immune system just needs to repair itself!"

"So Jeremie is cured?" Aelita said. No one seemed to notice tears that lined her face.

"Quite possibly!" Colton said with excitement. "That doesn't mean he's out of the water _yet_, though. His immune system is probably still in bad condition. He just needs more rest and a little supervision to make sure he doesn't choke on his own blood though."

"That was incredibly disgusting." Yumi said. Colton stared straight at her.

"I'm kind-of a doctor. I ain't going to sugar coat this." Colton said.

"I think that because you keep saying "ain't" is the reason you're not a _real_ doctor." Star said flippantly. Colton stuck his tounge out at her.

"Anyways, everyone out. I'm going to the hardware store to get some supplies to fix the door, then I gotta come back and keep an eye on Jeremie to make sure he doesn't suffocate again." Colton said. He glanced at his watch. "Agh, dammit, I'm going to miss my medicine classes tonight! Jeremie, when this is all over, you-" Colton realized Jeremie was fast asleep. "Never mind."

"I'll watch him tonight, I have no classes." Aelita volunteered, still fighting back tears.

"Really? Thanks Aelita! I really-? What's wrong?" Colton asked, noticing Aelita's tears. "Why are you crying? You don't have to watch him tonight if you don't want to!"

"It's not that.." Aelita said, wiping away some tears. "We... Almost lost Jeremie.. That's all..."

"Would you cry the same way if I were about to die?" Odd yelled with a grin. Yumi rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm sure she'd be doing tap dances." Yumi said sarcastically. "Let's get you washed up, Aelita." Yumi said, leading Aelita to the bathrooms.

"Okay, the rest of you, go away, I gotta fix up this place." Colton said.

"What should I do with the paper towels?" Odd asked.

"Just leave them drapped over my bed, I'll clean this up when I get back from the hardware store." Colton instructed.

"Can I go too?" Odd asked, setting the paper towels down.

"Uh, sure, why not." Colton said. Everyone left the room, leaving Jeremie to sleep.

"So admit it Colton, you also want to go to the hardware store to see that cute cashier girl, _Miranda!_" Odd teased, placing great emphasis on "Miranda".

"While yes, she is cute, she isn't my sole reason for going to the hardware store, Odd. Remember, busted door?" Colton said seriously.

"But you admit she's cute _and _you want to see her again?" Odd asked rather loudly. Colton looked right at Odd, slightly speechless and annoyed, realizing he was caught.

"Oh shut up Odd! She's like, 15, I'm only 14." Colton barked.

"So you like the older ladies, huh?" Odd teased, yet again.

"This is going to be a long walk." Colton said to himself, putting his head into his hands.

**(M16A3's note: HA! HA HA HA! How do you like this chapter? Remember, REVIEW IF YOU LIKED THE STORY! I MAY START INCLUDING MY REVIEWERS INTO THE STORY! I'M LOOKING AT YOU, mirandalovespie!)**


	15. Teasing

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 15**

**Teasing**

**By M16A3**

**(M16A3's note: Thank you all who left the reviews! I really appreciate it! Also, I'm debating on wether or not to release my Facebook or not, tell me in say... A PM/ review? ;3)**

"Okay Jeremie, follow my finger with your eyes." Colton instructed, placing one finger directly in front of Jeremie's face. Colton moved his finger in every direction, Jeremie watched intently.

"I still don't get the point of this." Yumi said, staring at some of the posters thepat adorned Jeremie's wall.

"It's simple." Colton said.

"Oh God, here we go." Ulrich said, referring to Colton's lectures. Colton ignored the comment.

"I'm checking to see if Jeremie got brain damage through ocular response." Colton said. "If parts of his brain died from the lack of oxygen, he should have a hard time focusing on objects with his eyes, due to the damage in his brain. However, he looks pretty good."

"No damage?" Aelita asked, smiling happily.

"Other than a nasty headache, he should be in the clear." Colton said. He took a tiny flashlight out of his back pocket and shined it into Jeremie's eyes. "Dilation appears normal, he's fine!"

"That's good, now he should be all better, right?" Star asked.

"These tests were to make sure he didn't get brain damage from the suffocation, I still need the supercomputer's scanners to test his immune system." Colton said.

"Let's go a bit later, right now, it's lunch time!" Odd said.

"You know, lunch doesn't sound like a bad idea." Colton replied.

"Yeah, you can tell us all about this _Miranda_ girl that Odd keeps telling us about!" Jeremie said. Colton flinched.

"Odd!" Colton yelled, blushing slightly. Odd just gave him a grin.

"So what's she like, Colton?" Aelita said. Colton glared at her, still blushing.

"I'm going to lunch." Colton said, leaving the room.

"Are you going to sit with Miranda?" Ulrich called, laughing a bit.

"Only if you sit with Yumi!" Colton's voice echoed through the hallway. It was enough to tear the grin from Ulrich and Yumi's faces.

"Let's go to lunch." Aelita said, walking out of the room. The rest of the warriors followed her.

**(M16A3's note: Yes another shorty, no not my best. I promise the next chapter will definitely be better, I just wanted to put something out there. Review, and I'll update faster ;))**


	16. Targeted

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 16**

**Targeted**

**By M16A3**

"Hey Colton!" Odd said with a grin. Colton tore his eyes off his lunch and stared at Odd with cold hostility.

"What?" He said hesitantly.

"_Miranda!_" Odd whispered loudly. Colton stared right at him, his eye twitching from anger. Odd and Ulrich exchanged amused expressions.

"Odd," Colton began, "Bring it up one more time, and I swear to God, I will punch you so hard, one of the D's in your name will fall off!" Colton hissed. Odd grinned wider. Below the table, out of Colton's sight, Odd lightly tapped his foot against Ulrich's, signaling for a course of action.

"Hey Colton!" Odd said again. Colton put his lunch down and cracked his knuckles, letting out very audible pops.

"Yes?" Colton replied with a sinister grin.

"_Miranda!_" Ulrich blurted out. The whole table erupted with laughter as Colton slammed his head into the hard wooden table, yelling something profane in English.

"Alright, let's leave him alone!" Jeremie said with a grin. Colton lifted his head off of the table, and a big red mark showed up just under his brown hair.

"You guys really give me an aneurysm sometimes." He groaned.

"Immersion-ism? Is that some new video game cult or something?" Odd asked seriously. Star grinned at Colton. Colton simply lay his head back down on the table, muttering the same profanity in English. Just out of sight, Sissi began slowly approaching the Lyoko warrior's table.

"Odd, you are so lame sometimes." Jeremie said with a grin.

"An aneurysm is-"

"He won't understand, Colton." Ulrich said. Colton lifted his head and opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it and silently agreed with Ulrich.

"Speaking of not understanding anything," Yumi piped up. "Sissi, ten o'clock." the warriors turned to see the principal's daughter slowly approaching them through a crowd of kids.

"Why is she walking like that?" Colton asked.

"And where are her goons?" Ulrich added. Sissi stopped just behind Colton. The normally energetic and free air had turned still and uneasy, even in the cafeteria at lunchtime. Odd tried to formulate an insult, but something held him back. Colton and Sissi locked eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, Colton spoke.

"Can I help you?" he asked. Sissi blinked, and Colton's eyes widened as he stared right into the eyes of Xana. The possessed Sissi reached behind her back as Colton froze in his seat, trying to warn to others. His senses returned, and he began yelling in a rush.

"Oh God, it's Xana!" Colton yelled, scrambling backwards out of his seat and into the table. Colton was trapped, his back pressed against the anchored table. Sissi pulled Colton's personal defense knife from behind her back and raised it above her head.

"She's got a knife!" Someone in the cafeteria yelled, instantly sending the lunchroom into a panicked frenzy. Kids ran everywhere, creating mass chaos. Colton was still trapped between Sissi.

"Colton!" Star yelled. The knife came down and into Colton's right shoulder. Colton yelled in extreme pain as Sissi slashed downward, ripping a massive wound into Colton's chest, down to his waist. It was a devastating injury, and Colton collapsed to the ground, becoming consumed and trampled by the madness that swirled above him. Again Sissi raised the knife, preparing to finish the writhing adolescent boy on the ground. Again, the knife came down, but this time it was intercepted and stopped by Ulrich's iron grip.

"Not today, Xana!" Ulrich yelled, before kicking Sissi in the stomach, sending her stumbling backward into a bunch of tables. With Xana momentarily dispatched, the warriors turned their attention to their bloodied comrade. Although he was still alive, a small pool of blood surrounded his body, and he had been badly trampled by the chaos Sissi had created.

"We've got to get him to Lyoko!" Jeremie said, alarm present in his tone. "If we can get him inside the scanners, that'll stop the bleeding long enough for me to run a return to the past!" Colton tried to get to his feet, but quickly collapsed from his injuries. Aelita and Odd picked him up by his arms. Blood splattered on their clothes as Colton mumbled something completely illiterate.

"Hang on Colton, stay with us!" Odd said. The two warriors carried the injured adolescent away. They hadn't walked more than a few steps as Sissi began getting back up.

"Things just got interesting." Odd muttered trying to keep Colton balanced.

**(M16A3's note: I am so sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I got back into school, and I'm battling to make up a lot of lost ground in all of my classes. Anyways, for this chapter, you all should thank I Heart Lyoko for getting me to write this! He actually PM'd me , asking me to get off my lazy ass and write this story. So you all owe him this one. Also, I'd like to apologize to Cyanide 6 for not REALIZING SHE'S A GIRL! Once again, reviews make me update faster!)**


	17. Why?

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 17**

**Why...?**

**By M16A3**

**(M16A3's note: Sorry for the slow updates, depression has decided to come at me yet again, and that coupled with school and my recent breakup really sapped my time, motivation, and energy. On the brighter side, I'm successfully qualified for the navy! Anyways, who cares. Last note, for anyone who'd like to get into contact with me, my email is on my profile. Yes I take story ideas. Sorry for the long note, without further ado, CODE: OVERLOADED!)**

"No sight of Sissi." Ulrich whispered, peering though a shrub.

"I think we lost her." Jeremie replied, looking toward the school. The school was in an uproar over Sissi's attempted murder, a commotion that had given the warriors the cover to get Colton to safety.

"How's he doing?" Star asked, looking at the mortally injured adolscent. Colton lay flat on the ground, struggling to stay consious, with Odd and Aelita tending to his wounds.

"I ain't Colton, but I really don't think he should lose this much blood! Odd said in a worried tone. His face was grim, and his clothes were heavily stained with Colton's blood.

"His injuries are bleeding too fast! If we don't get him to Lyoko soon, he's going to die!" Aelita whimpered. Her clothes had dozens of large red patches on them, and her face had bloody marks everywhere.

"I don't get it though, why would Xana try and kill Colton?" Yumi thought aloud. "Jeremie and Aelita weren't five feet away, but he was focused solely on trying to kill Colton." There was a short silence following Yumi's question, interrupted only by a sneeze from Jeremie. Suddenly, Ulrich's eyes lit up.

"That's why!" he said suddenly. "Colton's the only one who knows how to help Jeremie!" All eyes turned to Jeremie.

"He's right!" Star said. "If Colton dies, then Jeremie loses his primary caretaker!"

"Then Jeremie either dies of pneumonia, or gets sent to the hospital, right into Xana's crosshairs." Yumi added.

"Killed two birds with one stone." Odd muttered, trying to stop Colton's profuse bleeding.

"Uh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Sissi's coming!" Jeremie warned, pointing at a Xanaified girl, whom was wandering the forest.

"You guys go ahead and get him to the factory," Ulrich suggested. "I'll stay here and keep Xana busy!" Before anyone could object, Ulrich vaulted out into the open, and delivered a powerful flying kick to Sissi's turned back. A fignt ensued between Xana's host and Ulrich. Aelita and Odd once again picked up Colton's lifeless body, leaving a large bloody mark in the grass where he was laying.

"We need to get there fast," Yumi said urgently. "I think he's unconscious!" With Ulrich keeping Xana occupied, the rest of the warriors quickly carried Colton's bloody and unconscious body to the factory. After the long run, the warriors hurried inside, setting Colton's bloody body down in one of the scanners as Jeremie began the virtualization process to send Colton to Lyoko and keep him alive in the Lyoko core memory.

"Is he going to make it?" Star asked anxiously.

"We got here in just the knick of time." Jeremie said. "The supercomputer will keep him alive within the system memory. _However_, there is a problem." Jeremie's tone dropped. "If Colton loses all of his life points," Jeremie trailed off.

"He'll devirtualize." Odd muttered.

"And the supercomputer says that he's lost too much blood already, he'll die immediately on materialization!"

"Guess we'll just have to keep Xana off his back." Yumi said confidently.

"Get to Lyoko and deactivate that tower, fast!" Jeremie said. Odd, Star, Aelita, and Yumi stepped into the elevator. As the doors closed, Jeremie yelled, "Protect Colton at all costs, he can't afford to lose any life points!" Within moments, the warriors were sent to the desert sector of Lyoko, where they found the virtualized Colton laying haphazardly on his side.

"Colton?" Odd spoke, lightly shaking the teen's shoulder. Colton seemed to stir, then rolled on his back, seeing the familiar faces surround him.

"Ugh, my head is killing me, what happened? Where are we?"

"You're on Lyoko, you passed out from blood loss, so we had to virtualize you to keep you alive." Yumi explained, helping Colton to his feet.

"That explains a lot." Colton said, rubbing his head. Odd cocked an eyebrow.

"It does?" he asked.

"No, but with this job, you learn that not a whole lot entirely makes sense." Colton muttered.

"Hey, I'd love to chat some more, but I think your recovery party is here." Star muttered, pointing at a group of seveal approaching kankerlauts. The warriors drew their weapons as the monsters began firing at them.

"Colton, do whatever you have to do to avoid losing your life points!" Jeremie warned. "If you lose them all, it's game over for you!"

"Where's the tower, Jeremie? The sooner Aelita deactivates it, the sooner we can reverse this mess!" Colton asked, slamming the pump on his shotgun.

"It's two kilometers to the north, but watch out, Xana knows you're dying! He's virtualizing monsters left and right!" Star casted a powerful spell, destroying a small group of kankerlauts in the vicinity of the spell.

"I can stay here and hold them off," Star yelled, charging another spell. "Get Colton and Aelita to the tower before Xana sends more reinforcements!" The warriors agreed, and the team turned and ran toward the tower, leaving Star to engage the remaining kankerlauts.

"Jeremie, I got hit twice out there," Odd called. "How many life points do I have left?"

"Fourty, you should be fine as long as no more trouble hits." Jeremie replied.

"Trouble found us." Colton commented, pumping his shotgun again. "Hornets, directly in front of us!" Above the warriors, a massive squadron of Hornets flew in and began attacking the warriors with a barrage of lasers.

"Watch out, these Hornets can spit acid! That will _decimate_ your life points!" Jeremie warned. Colton fired another blast from his shotgun and pumped it again. As a Hornet flew right at him, he aimed again and pulled the trigger, but all he heard was a loud clicking noise. He had run out of ammunition. He scrambled for his handguns, but the Hornet was too close now. It spit acid straight at Colton, and with nanoseconds to spare, Yumi jumped in front of him and took the blast, immediately devirtualizing her.

"Yumi got devirtualized!" Jeremie called with alarm. "It's down to just you, Odd, and Aelita now!"

"What happened to Star?!" Colton asked, finally drawing his handguns.

"She got devirtualized when Krabes came into the fight!"

"Xana is _really _trying to kill you Colton!" Odd yelled, firing laser arrows at a group of attacking Hornets.

"The tower isn't much farther away!" Aelita called, charging an energy field. With one well placed throw, she hit one hornet, and sent it flying into another, destroying them both in a spectacular explosion.

"Krabes!" Jeremie called urgently. "They're coming from behind!" Sure enough, three Krabes were approaching behind the three remaining warriors. With Hornets and now Krabes attacking all at once, Odd had a simple, yet easy plan.

"Run, damn it! Sprint to the tower!" Odd yelled. Colton fired several more shots at the swarm of Hornets before his handgun also began clicking, signaling he had emptied his weapon.

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Colton yelled, "Aelita, time to run!" the trio quick turned and made a mad dash in the direction of the tower, dodging the poorly aimed lasers in an attempt to outrun the attackers. The three teens had somehow managed to outrun the monsters, because as they came upon a huge canyon, the lasers stopped, the acid stopped falling, everything was still.

"I think we made it!" Aelita whispered, trying to catch her breath.

"How in the world did you do that?!" Jeremie exclaimed. "There were _dozens _of them! You just outran all of them!"

"That just goes to show you, running away from your problems really works!" Odd exclaimed with a grin. Just as he finished his sentence, a massive wall of red slashed through the canyon walls, hitting Odd square in the chest, instantly devirtualizing him.

"Megatank!" Jeremie yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Aelita, run!" Colton yelled. The last two warriors fled from the canyon, running in the opposite direction of the tower.

"Jeremie, I'm completely out of ammunition, how soon can you get my assault shotgun back?" Colton called.

"Five minutes, just run, Colton! You're down to only thirty life points! Don't even think about fighting, one hit from that monster, and you're going to die!" Jeremie yelled. Aelita sprang to the side to avoid the Megatank's massive laser.

"We can't just run forever!" She yelled.

"Do you have any sort of trick up your sleeve, Aelita?" Colton asked, sidestepping another blast from the Megatank. "Virtualization, telekinesis, _something?_"

"I have one, but I don't know that it'll work well!" Aelita replied.

"At this point, I don't think we have any better options!" Colton yelled. Aelita stopped running and faced the megatank. She slowly raised her hands, focusing on the megatank as best as she could. Then, as if by a miracle, the pursuing megatank spontaneously began devirtualizing in a flurry of white tiles.

"Aelita?! What did you _do_ to that behemoth?" Colton asked. "How did you just devirtualize it?"

"I didn't." Aelita grinned. "I _moved_ it!"

"Whatever you did, the scanners show an all clear!" Jeremie said triumphantly. "Quickly head to the tower and reverse this mess!" Aelita turned and dashed off to the tower, which was a short run away from Colton. Rocks and large boulders lined the tower's perimeter, offering cover to whomever might seek it.

"Hey Jeremie," Colton said casually, leaning on his emptied assault shotgun. "Were there any casualties or is everyone going home again?"

"There's mass chaos created by the attack at the school, but there aren't any reported deaths." Jeremie replied. "But a _certain group_ of Kadic students are unaccounted for.

"They finally noticed." Colton said nonchalantly. Just out of sight, a massive 1-ton metal monster coalesced from white tiles behind the actived tower, the very one Aelita was running full speed toward. The monster wasted no time in cutting Aelita off from the tower.

"Jeremie!" Aelita's voice rang out from the communication channels.

"Aelita?" Jeremie cried, tearing away from his conversation. "What's wrong?"

"A megatank came out from behind the tower!" Aelita cried.

"Hide behind the rocks, hurry! You can't take a blast from that thing's laser!"

"Jeremie?" Colton called. "What's wrong?"

"Another megatank!" Jeremie yelled, furiously typing at his keyboard. "Where the hell is Ulrich?!" Without a word, Colton dropped his shotgun in the sand and began sprinting top speed toward the tower. He could see Aelita in the distance, hiding behind a boulder as the megatank took shots at the stone shield in between her and the monster

"Jeremie!" Aelita called, urgency in her voice. "The rock is breaking away! It won't hold together for much longer!"

"Just hang in there Aelita, Ulrich is on his way!" Jeremie replied. "Come on Ulrich, hurry!" Colton drew closer to the Megatank, he could now hear the blasts from the megatank's massive laser. Colton quickly drew his knife and continued sprinting straight for the megatank.

"Wait, Colton?! What the hell are you doing?! Are you crazy?!" Jeremie yelled. Colton didn't respond, but continued running at the megatank, knife drawn. "Colton, don't fight, just wait for Ulrich to arrive! One hit from that thing and you're not going to come back from the return to the past!" Colton could now see the megatank clearly, and the megatank stopped firing and turned it's attention to the green clad figure sprinting straight for it.

"May God forgive me." he said quietly. He was now face-to-face with the megatank. The megatank fired it's massive laser, forcing Colton to quickly sidestep. Then, with one powerful jump, Colton sprang into the air, and threw his knife right at the bullseye on the shell. Before the knife could hit, the megatank blasted Colton with a devastating blast to the chest, instantly catapulting him back in a storm of white tiles.

"COLTON!" Jeremie screamed, watching Colton's materialization process pop up on his screen. The megatank was struck clean in the center by Colton's thrown knife, destroying it with a magnificent blast. "Aelita, run to the tower, fast! It's clear!" Within seconds, Aelita had deactivated the tower, prompting the return to the past program on the supercomputer.

"RETURN TO THE PAST, NOW!" Jeremie screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming the Enter key. The trademark white bubble quickly enveloped the world, setting time back to before the disaster had happened. Jeremie crossed his fingers, hoping Colton would still be there when it was over.

**(M16A3's note: One of my longest chapters yet! Please review, I do value your opinion and criticism!)**


	18. No

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 18**

**No...**

**By M16A3**

**(M16A3's note: I'm really sorry this is the first update in a while. With Depression constantly chewing at my head, my memory and energy are just headlining constantly. It's becoming hard just to get out of bed in the morning. Anyways, here's your next chapter! Enjoy!)**

The return to the past had turned time back twelve hours. The Lyoko warriors were sitting in the cafeteria in their usual spots, breakfast trays in front of them. As the warriors came to their senses, a problem immediately presented itself to the warriors.

"W-Where's Colton?" Aelita spat.

"Oh, no.." Jeremie whispered loudly, immediately getting up from his seat.

"Jeremie," Ulrich started, his tone rising. "What the hell does "Oh, no" mean?!" Jeremie didn't reply, instead he quickly left the table. The rest of the group quickly got up and followed him, fearing the worst had happened. Jeremie had gone from a quick walk to a very fast sprint as he got closer to the dorms. Upon reaching the dorm, Jeremie felt a powerful feeling of uneasiness as he opened the door to his room. There, face down on his bed, lay Colton. He didn't move an inch when Jeremie called to him. Jeremie crept into the room, but as the blonde got closer to Colton, Jeremie already knew what was coming. Jeremie lightly shook Colton's shoulder, hoping for a response, but recieving none. Instantly, Jeremie could feel that Colton's skin was ice-cold. The rest of the warriors showed up in the dorm room in time to see Jeremie check Colton for a pulse. After what seemed like an eternity, Jeremie looked up to his friends. His face was grim, and tears were welling up in his eyes. Slowly, he choked something out.

"He's... He's Dead."


	19. Xana's only victory

**Code: Overloaded**

**Chapter 19**

**Xana's only victory**

**By M16A3**

**(M16A3's note: Well, things are getting a little harder for me every day. I was declined by the Navy due to the near-total hearing loss in my left ear, although I'm *hopefully* getting surgery on it to restore what is lost. Depression has been tightening it's grip on me, although one of my close friends is helping me combat it. On the lighter side, I really don't care who hates me for it, I've become a Brony. If any of you want to read them, I may start writing My Little Pony fanfiction. Anyways, here's the next chapter of Code: Overloaded.)**

"Jeremie, is there _anything_ we can do?" Ulrich asked, fighting back tears. Jeremie sat stone faced at his computer.

"The supercomputer logs say that Colton was successfully devirtualized.." Jeremie muttered in a low voice. He clicked on an icon, which brought out a video of the scanner's security cameras. "This is the security video of Colton materializing in our world." The warriors huddled around the computer monitor as Jeremie played back the footage. A bright light temporarily overloaded the video feed, followed by Colton's bloodied figure emerging from the light. As he rematerialized, an arm shot up to his rapidly bleeding chest, trying to hold in his blood from the devastating wound. As the doors hissed open, Colton stumbled forward, catching himself on the door of the scanner. He stood there for a second, frozen, before his knees buckled beneath him, dropping him straight to the ground in a bloody mess. Colton was dead before he hit the ground. Seconds later, a white flash overloaded the security camera again, and the footage stopped.

"He's... Really gone.." Star sobbed, wiping away tears from her eyes.

"If I could've just gotten to the tower a little faster.." Aelita's voice cracked as she struggled to fight back the tears.

"What are we going to do? We can't just let him stay dead, can we? Isn't there any way to bring him back?" Ulrich said, his voice was cracking as he wiped off some tears from his cheeks.

"There's nothing we can do. He's dead." Jeremie's voice cracked, and he instantly broke down, slapping his face against the keyboard. "He's dead, and there's nothing we can do to bring him back! I can't believe this really happened!"

"What are we going to do about the police?" Yumi asked, wiping another tear from her cheek. "Aren't they asking questions about how a perfectly healthy boy just turned up dead one morning?" Jeremie lifted his head off of the keyboard. His face was covered in tears.

"Thankfully, Colton's death was ruled out as an accident." Jeremie sobbed. "They identified the cause of death to be sudden cardiac arrest."

"Jeremie, on your screen, there's a message!" Odd exclaimed, pointing at Jeremie's monitor. Jeremie looked to his screen and saw a Xana logo with text written on it. Jeremie cleared his throat and read it aloud.

"One down. Seven to go." The room fell completely silent as a feeling of pure rage gripped everyone in the room. Ulrich, filled with absolute anger, suddenly pounced at Jeremie's computer.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Ulrich yelled. With one swift movement, he punched a massive hole through Jeremie's computer sceen, destroying it in an explosion of sparks. "I'm going to kill you, I swear!" He sobbed, tears streamed down his face in torrents as he pulled his bloodied hand from the computer.

"Ulrich.." Yumi said, but stopped mid-sentence.

"Save it for Lyoko," Odd said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "We're going to show Xana what murder gets him!" There was a sudden pounding at Jeremie's door.

"Hey! What's all the cursing for?" Jim burst in the room. As he saw the tear filled faces of the Lyoko warriors, he quickly eased up. "Oh, um, sorry. Sorry for everything. Especially Colton, he was a real good kid."

"It's alright Jim, we're... Coping." Star said, putting a tissue to her eyes. Jim simply nodded in response, then noticed Ulrich's torn up hand.

"Stern? What happened to your hand?!" Jim said loudly. Ulrich glanced at his beaten hand, quickly realizing that Colton would've had it patched up by now, and would've given him a lecture on the effects deep cuts like that could have in the future. "We need to get you to the infirmary, now!" Jim quickly rushed over and held his jacket to the boy's injury, before quickly escorting the boy to the infirmary.

"You know I just thought of something." Yumi said. "How are we going to treat Jeremie's condition without Colton here? He's the only one who knew anything about medicine!"

"I thought of that too, and I'm going to have to review Colton's medical logs to try and figure out a course of action." Jeremie said, turning to his busted computer monitor. "That is, once I get a new monitor."

**(M16A3's note: Dah, I don't even care how short that was. At least I finally wrote something.)**


End file.
